


August Moon

by Dianalynn1138



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Mystery, Supernatural Elements, Werewolf, mention of parent dying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:48:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27265243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dianalynn1138/pseuds/Dianalynn1138
Summary: Following the tragic death of his soulmate causing Hux to leave his home, family and pack in England, he finds himself drifting aimlessly in life working as a Private Investigator when a chance meeting with a strange woman uproots everything.Rose's sister is missing.  Rose thinks she's found her last hope in a surly and frustratingly handsome Privet Investigator.Can Hux get past his own fears of failing another woman who puts her entire trust in him? Can Rose learn how to trust someone who won't open up about himself in order to find her sister before it's too late?
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico, GingerRose, Gingerflower - Relationship
Comments: 42
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter One

Chapter One

_“If I had any clue where she MIGHT have gone, I wouldn’t be here, would I, Officer?”_

The woman’s voice wound its way through the busy police station drowning out everything else; her voice carried over the constant hum of activity thanks in part to Hux’s supernatural hearing giving him the ability to pick out bits and pieces of conversations between arresting officers and those now in handcuffs. But this voice, there was something about this woman’s voice that Hux couldn’t ignore as she spoke to an officer. The voice carried a scent as well: fresh cut flowers, soft soap and a sweetness he couldn’t quite place floated through the station along with a simmering panic that, try as she might came through in her intonation while each word still dripped with annoyance and frustration. 

Hux leaned his head against the cinder brick wall of the holding cell trying, and failing, to focus on anything but the echo of the woman in his ears and the soft fragrances the voice carried. So, instead, Hux thought about his current predicament; needless to say, Armitage Hux was having a very bad night. The night wasn’t just bad, no, tonight was the kind of night that he would try desperately to put out of his mind, never to think about again. Tonight, would go down in history as the worst night of his life. That wasn’t totally, true, the worst night of Hux’s life happened eight years ago when everything went to shit, losing everything that meant anything to him. So, maybe tonight could be categorized as the worst night of his professional career. 

As a private investigator, Hux took all kinds of jobs, mostly finding lost items like jewelry and even a few lost pets, and in recent years Hux had worked a high-profile financial theft for a large cooperation. A low-level IT worker had created a code to embezzle one dollar from ever transaction and had amassed over a million dollars, running away to a small tropical island to hide out. Hux found him with a frozen drink in his hand and a girl between his legs and was nice enough to let him finish before calling the authorities. 

But Hux’s biggest money maker were infidelity cases: catching cheating husbands and wives in the act was a very lucrative business. Which was good because Vancouver was an expensive as fuck city to live in. He chose it because it was the farthest away form his native England as he could get with a small wolf population. The last thing Hux wanted was a family pack to think he was coming to bother them or worse, try to take him in.

Hux told himself he was happy being alone. 

But lucrative or not, no paycheck was worth a night in lock up at the Gastown police station. He still could not figure out how the cheating bastard saw him across the street hidden in darkness. Had Hux been so careless as to have missed something supernatural in him?

_“It’s like I told you, Ma’am, we can’t file a missing person’s report until your sister has been gone for 48 hours.”_

Hux could feel the frustration rolling off the officer from down the hallway; his patience running very thin with a woman who did not seem to take NO for an answer.

Hux hated missing person’s cases and made it a point never to take them. He knew from experience that a missing person was typically one of three things: One, the person had just left town without telling anyone only to be found at the beach or having a spa weekend on their own. Two, the person was having issues with the law or owed money to someone and wanted to jump off the grid for a while until the heat died down. The third was less common than the others, but unfortunately did occur; either the person was abducted or had been hurt or killed and had yet to be found. For the sanity of the woman at the front of the station, Hux hoped it was one of the first two.

_“Fine.”_

There was short pause and Hux heard the soft scraping of a chair across the floor before she spoke again.

_“I’ll wait until the time is better for you to find my sister.”_

She didn’t give up, he had to give her that. Hux knew and loved a woman like that and couldn’t help but smile to himself only to have his smile drop when the pain of her loss returned. She too had been strong willed, tenacious, and at times reckless with her actions but her heart had always been in the right place. 

_Kaydel_

Hux shook his head to clear the memory of. The last thing that he wanted to deal with now was a reminder of how he had failed the woman he had loved in such a tragic way. It had been a long time since Hux had allowed himself to think of Kay and right then, surrounded by drunk men who stench of stale beer and weed was not the place to think of such a beautiful and wild spirit. 

_You let my sister die._

Hux closed his eyes at the voices entering his mind, all fighting over one another with condemnation and grief in their cries.

Hux tried hard not to think of that night, or of Kaydel, at all because the memory of how he wasn’t able to protect his pack, _and_ save his soon to be bride at the same time, making the single most difficult decision of his life to save the pack, leaving Kaydel to die wasn’t something Hux cared to dwell on longer then the time it took to pour the double whiskey and shoot it back to clear the fog of pain from his mind. 

Hux promised himself the day he left England that he would never again put himself in a position in which he allowed himself to care for anyone the way he cared for Kay. It wasn’t worth the pain of letting that person get hurt because of one stupid and selfish choice he made. 

Never again.

“Hux, Armitage,” He stood when he heard his name called, grateful for the distraction from his past. “charges have been dropped, you’re free to go.”

Hux stood from the bench he had sitting on and waited as the door to the holding cell opened with a mechanical clang allowing him to leave the 10x10 box. He then followed the officer down the corridor to collect his belongings and sign the necessary paperwork that would allow Hux to get the fuck out of there.

As he walked through the hallways to the front of the station to gather his belongings, Hux couldn’t stop himself from looking around at the people milling about the place: the women he saw in the rest of the station didn’t seem like they could be the woman he had heard speaking so confidently to the police officer. Nor did any of the women standing around the front waiting to be called to file a complaint or, perhaps, pick someone up from the very lock up he had been sitting in just moments ago. 

Hux walked to the officer behind the bullet proof plexiglass shield and gave him the information needed to collect his belongings. 

“Hux, Armitage,” the officer said as he pulled out a large plastic bag, the contents of which held all of Hux’s equipment he had with him while he did surveillance for a client; including his weapons. 

“One camera, three lenses,” the officer began to pull things out of the bag going through his itemized checklist.

As the officer went down the list Hux began placing them in their respective sections in the messenger bag when he heard a soft noise from the corner of the entry way. The sound wasn’t loud, in fact he doubted anyone else in the room heard it, but to his supernatural wolf hearing it was a jackhammer pounding into concrete reverberating in his head. A sound so familiar to him, Hux thought if he turned around Kay would be standing behind him moving a ring against the links on a chain, the clicking making an almost mechanical buzzing sound. The ring he’d given her which she wore on that damned chain because she worried she would lose it when she shifted. 

But instead of Kay making the noise, it was a small woman sitting in the chair absently running a half moon shaped pendent along a beaded chain. Somehow, and without a shadow of a doubt, Hux knew this was the woman he heard earlier; the way she sat both lost as to what to do next but resolute as to why she was in the police station in the first place, every instinct in him screaming to go to her. 

Hux fought with the part of himself wanting go over to her, tell her he was an investigator and that he would help find out whoever was missing. But the asshole part that just wanted to get out of there and didn’t want to get involved. He was only good for finding cheating spouses and lost property; Hux knew that he would only fail her in the end. 

“And seven small knives.” Hux turned to the officer and reached his hand out to claim his property when the officer pulled them just out of his reach. 

“Throwing knives.” Hux corrected as he reached for them only to have them held just out of his reach.

“Do you have a permit to carry these?” The officer asked as if hoping to catch Hux in a lie, but Hux wasn’t stupid, reaching into the wallet which had just been returned to him and taking out his conceal carry permit showing it to the officer; the smile he attempted to hide wasn’t fooling anyone when the smug look on the asshole’s face fell. 

“Wouldn’t a gun be better? Why does a private investigator need a weapon anyway?”

Just as he had placed each item in his bag carefully and with purpose, Hux began placing each knife around his body: two up his sleeves, two in each ankle, one on each hip and one along his back along his waist band then looked up at the officer with a shit eating grin on his face.

“Any buffoon can carry a gun.” Hux answered. “Guns are primitive, with no grace or creativity. Knives, on the other hand take skill, poise and create an element of surprise for any opponent.” 

Hux signed the last line on the last page of his paperwork and turned to leave the station, walking through a cloud of sweet florals as he passed the woman, careful not to look at her. Hux knew she had heard the conversation he had had with the desk officer; knew she had heard when he said that Hux was a private investigator but prayed that she wouldn’t follow him.

He couldn’t help her, and he knew she would be nothing but trouble to him and the only thing Hux wanted less than her kind of trouble was a rabies shot. 

Except, she didn’t follow. 

And, if Hux were honest with himself, he didn’t know how to feel about it. Should he go back to the station, give her his card and get all the information from her and start looking for whoever was missing right then and there? Or did he ignore it and wait for this feeling of unease to go away?

After waking into his apartment and beelining to the small bar set up on the back wall of his apartment-slash-office Hux poured himself the largest whiskey he possible could. Hux sat down on the couch and downed the entire thing in just a few gulps, the liquid burning as it went down. He deserved this pain; he just didn’t understand why he was like this.

Before he could go back to the station and make a fool out of himself to a stranger who might not even want his help, Hux stood back up, poured himself another heavy drink and after grabbing the bottle off the bar with his other hand, walked into the bedroom. 

Yeah, Armitage Hux was having a shit night and the only cure was to get so drunk he just passed out.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All Rose has to do is knock on the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who had read so far as well as those who looked over my texts so far!

“Just do it!”

Rose Tico stood in an empty hallway staring at a door. The only thing that was separating her and a way to finding her sister was a door. She needed to raise her hand. Raise her hand, knock hard, and get on with the uncomfortable introductions, the questions she knew this stranger, someone who carried throwing knives, would ask about her sister. Questions Rose couldn’t answer herself let alone to anyone else. But none of that mattered; Paige was the only thing that mattered right then and there. Fuck her awkwardness, Paige had been missing now for almost 72 hours and no one but her gave a fuck. 

The past few days Rose had through even emotion possible but since walking into Paige’s apartment to find it ransacked those emotions circled back to panic and fear. Paige was the only family she had left, and Rise wasn’t ready to live in a world without her.

If someone would have told Rose two days ago that she would be outside a stranger’s door at eight AM, a bag full of Paige’s notes slung over one shoulder and coffee and Timbits precariously perched on her other arm, she would have laughed it off as the ludicrousness that it was. But here she was, standing outside the door to a stranger building up the courage to knock on the fucking door. 

Rose would give anything to go back to the feeling of joy she had had Tuesday morning: the day had been brighter, even in the muggy late summer Vancouver morning, Rose had felt a cool breeze coxing just one more smile from her as she walked to her possibly life changing meeting. After years of hard work and determination the world had been laid out before her; the possibilities had seemed endless.

But that was a lifetime ago.

That Tuesday morning meeting with the publisher had been a dream; after talking for hours Rose had felt a strong connection with the other woman, and by the time the lunch had come to an end Rose began to feel like she understood her and the goals she had set for herself. 

Growing up poor in an immigrant community on the outskirts of Vancouver, Rose had learned that only hard work and tenacity got you places in life. Learning this firsthand from her parents at the family’s small laundry and tailor shop. Most children might feel resentful about having to work after school folding and ironing other people’s clothing, but not Rose; it was in the back room of the shop that Rose found her passion and drive. 

Rose had left the meeting with an offer to publish and the promise of an advance to hit her meager bank account by the end of business that day: things were finally coming together. All her budgeting, scrimping and saving, so she could make her dream a reality had finally paid off and Rose wanted more than anything to celebrate with her favorite person in the world. 

As Rose walked to her sister Paige’s apartment walking on air, her boots never touching the ground. Stopping at a store to get a bottle of champagne before making her way to Gastown, Rose thought about all the times she and Paige had talked about where they wanted to live, Rose’s dream was to live in Kitsilano Beach with a view of the water, but not Paige, she only hand eyes for Gastown, the trendy part of the city. Rose had been so proud and happy for her sister when she signed the papers for her small basement apartment on Cordova. The Tico sisters were about to really make it in the big city and Rose excitement was palpable.

But Rose’s good mood and excitement vanished when she knocked on Paige’s door. No answer. She knocked again a harder and still there hadn’t been an answer. Rose had a key for emergencies, but she never used it, this was Paige’s place and she deserved her privacy. But hadn’t Paige told Rose that she would be home after the meeting and to come right over. Had she done wat Rose had and stopped at the store for wine or celebratory cupcakes, perhaps? Rose texted Paige multiple times but getting no answer. What if she had been hurt? With that moment of panic Rose decided to use the key and let herself in only to stop short in the doorway by the state of the apartment, the bottle in her hand crashing to the floor. 

Rose’s experience with the police had been less that satisfactory; asking meaningless questions only to tell her she would have to wait 48hours before she can file a missing person’s report. But, in his experience “people usually turn up after a day or two and she shouldn’t worry.” 

Rose wasn’t about to let some asshole police officer tell her that her sister would show up and that she probably just had thrown a party and things got out of hand. Fuck that! Rose was going to get to the bottom of this. 

Which brought Rose back to the issue at hand. She still hadn’t raised her hand to knock on the door. She still hadn’t made her presence known to the occupant in this apartment. She wasn’t going to let the lack of police involvement to keep her from finding her sister.

Rose’s first trip to the police station was a dud, being told, yet again, she had to wait the required 48 hours before she could file a missing person’s report, and that the state of the apartment wasn’t much to worry about. She should just go home and wait for her sister to show up. 

The next day, Rose went back to the same station, hoping she would get a different officer, maybe one that would be able to help her. But, as it turns out, luck was not on her side and she ended up with the same small brained idiot who didn’t seem to care that her sister was missing. 

“Ma’am we have protocols we must follow and unfortunately we can’t do anything until the right amount of time had passed.” He had said to her. 

“I bet if my sister was white you would be falling all over yourselves to solve this case.” Rose said as she left the station. 

As an Asian woman, Rose wasn’t stupid not to think that racism might be a factor in the police’s lack of interest in her sister’s disappearance. She grew up in a small immigrant community where the police were seen as interlopers and they didn’t always have your best interest at heart.

Rose went back to Paige’s apartment following the second trip to the station to see if maybe there was a clue, something that Paige had left behind, something that would only make sense to Rose, anything that would help find her. 

Nothing but random notes on wolves and how they communicate within their packs and the lunar cycle could be found in her office and none of that made sense to Rose. So, instead of trying to find something that didn’t exist Rose went back to the station, hoping that she had let enough time lapse to file a missing person’s report. What she got was more than she bargained for. 

Rose had yet another argument with the main desk officer then being told yet again that she would have to wait until it had been the proper amount of time, she sat down and waited for the last few hours to pass. She tried to do some work on her phone, but the commotion of the busy station as well as her constant awareness of the time slowly passing Rose knew no work would get done. Frustrated Rose slouched back in the uncomforted chair and just watched the time only to become all too aware of a tall, slender ginger-haired man gathering his things from the front desk clerk. He hadn’t been charged with anything that Rose could see but he had been arrested for something since he was getting back his belongings. 

As she watched the man interact with the same officer who had been so unhelpful to her, Rose overheard not only his name, Armitage Hux, but that he was a private investigator. Rose also couldn’t help but notice the small knives he placed around his body absently thinking to herself she needed to get into weaponry; how cool it would be to learn how to use those kinds of knives. Rose carefully tracked the ginger man as he walked out of the door and immediately took out her phone to check him out online only to find very little but a name, address and phone number; he had also been mentioned in an article about an embezzler being brought back to the country for trial.

Rose thought about following him, asking him if he could help, ready to beg him to take her case, but she knew that wouldn’t work. She needed to follow the right procedures first, but she kept his page pinned on her phone and continued to wait the last forty-five minutes. 

Once the paperwork had been completed and after speaking with Detective Dameron, she felt as if she couldn’t do anything else. Rose went home and tried to calm herself down with some yoga, and when that didn’t work, wine. But after every glass of wine, she couldn’t help but think the impressive Armitage Hux and if maybe he could help more than the police. 

Rose didn’t know what would happen once she knocked on the door. She didn’t know what would happen the moment she began talking to the man on the other side. What Rose did know that if she didn’t knock, she was placing Paige in more danger then she might already be in. Rose’s awkwardness was nothing to what she was sure would happen if she didn’t knock and left it to police to do fuck all with her sister’s life. She was her sister’s only hope and Rose wasn’t going to let Paige down just because she was nervous about asking for help. Taking a few calming breathes, Rose raised her hand gave the door three hard knocks.

“No going back now, Rose.” She said to herself as she braced for what would happen once that door opened. 


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose pleads her case while Hux tries to distance himself from his emotions using whiskey!

_“Where is she?” Ren’s voice was sharp and panicked as it echoed against the rock walls Hux and his closest friend, Ren, were standing._

_“Where is my fucking sister, Hux?” Ren asked again, his anger bubbling over in a riot._

_The night had been clear and bright when Hux and Kaydel had left the village, the full moon at its highest point in the sky, lending itself to what should have been magical; Hux had taken Kay to his favorite location to watch the moon rise. Hux loved the feeling of clarity he got when the moon hung low in the night’s sky over the small English village. According to lupine mythology, when the moon was at its fullest in late summer, magical things were thought to happen. Like, if a mated pair, or soon to be mated pair in Hux and Kayden’s case, shifted into their true forms during such an event, the act would bind the two souls as one, tying the two together for eternity, even in the afterlife. This night meant so much more than a human marriage ever could be to a wolf—something they would cherish forever._

_Then everything went wrong._

_“I don’t know,” Hux answered, looking around as if she was behind him all this time, panicked because he couldn’t see her. “She was right behind me when we heard them.” Hux continued trying desperately to catch her sent, anything to tell him she was alright. Safe._

_“You should have known better than to take her out when you KNEW hunters were in the area?”_

_Ren may have been a bigger wolf and the brother to his beloved, but that didn’t mean he was going to stand here and allow him to question his authority. Hux was still alpha, and he wouldn’t stand for it, no matter how upset Ren was._

_“There are always hunters in the area, Ren,” Hux said moving closer to the larger wolf. “What the fuck are you accusing me of, exactly?” Hux felt his eyes shift slightly, giving him a sense of satisfaction in the almost unperceivable submissive reaction cross over Ren’s face when he did so._

_“That’s enough,” Phasma’s calmer voice came from behind the group. Holding the other wolf’s eyes a moment longer, Hux gave a soft growl before Ren broke contact._

_“None of this is helping. Kay is still out there,” Moving between the two males with no fear. “but she’s strong and can handle herself.”_

_“Phasma!” Jessica shouted out of breath and running towards the small group that had assembled._

_Hux almost fell to his knees with the acrid, metallic scent of blood overwhelming his mind, fear and pain hanging like a shroud around the red-stained scarf. The same scarf Hux had given her earlier in the night. The scarf his mother had made for him when he was a child before her own death at the hands of hunters._

_“I’m so sorry, Hux, there was only this,” D’Arcy said without being able to look Hux in the eye. “and a pool of blood.”_

_Hux reached for the blood-drenched scarf; gripping the material in his hands as Ren let out a grief-stricken howl up into the night’s sky._

_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_

_A loud pounding echoed around them as someone began striking the rock walls over and over again._

_Wait, that wasn’t right._

_The only pounding Hux remembered was his heart hitting beating against his own chest._

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

Opening one blurry eye at the intruding sound, Hux realized quickly he was in no condition to be awake, forget getting out of bed. Whoever was at the door could go fuck themselves. 

“Fuck off.” He said to the door that was a room and a half away. 

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

Taking all the strength he had, Hux’s opened both eyes and stared at the ceiling, trying desperately to focus and failing miserably. The moment he was able to make out a small dark spot above him, the night before came back in a rush. Hux tamped down an urgent need to vomit as the memories of the night Kay disappeared all came flooding back; mix that nightmare with the half bottle of whiskey he downed only a few hours earlier, Hux wanted to die.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

“I’m going to fucking kill whoever is on the other side of that fucking door.”

As carefully as he could and without much grace, Hux heaved himself off the bed, standing on his two feet for only a moment than having to sit back down and wait for the room to stop spinning.

Hux had never been much of a drinker, drinks with friends, or a glass of wine at dinner were all well and good, but he would never classify himself as a hard drinker. That all changed the night Kaydel died and Hux found the only way to calm the unwanted memories of his failures was with a drink or three for him to sleep through the night. Last night, however, was different. The arrest, the time in a cage with sweaty humans had all been more than stressful. Add to that stress the woman with the missing sister and the onslaught of memories, Hux had been pushed over the edge.

A few deep breaths in and out and Hux was ready to try standing again, this time managing to stand and carefully walked to the door. As he moved through the living room Hux tried hard not to stumble under the weight of his foggy head, get sick on the carpet or simply curl up in a ball and go back to sleep right there in his living room: all three held promise. 

“Mr. Hux?” Said a small, muffled voice stopped him cold. It couldn’t be her, could it? 

Using a few calming breaths to steady himself and to try and make out in who had spoken, Hux’s head was foggy for an entirely different reason that it had been moments before.

“Fuck.”

“Please, Mr. Hux, I need your help,” The woman spoke again just as Hux tried not to take a step back. 

He didn’t want this: he didn’t want whatever drama she or her sister had gotten into because Hux knew he couldn’t help her.

“My name is Rose, Rose Tico. 

I was at the Gastown police station last night when you were leaving,” The woman continued. 

“Fuck.” Hux clamped a hand over his mouth quickly, knowing she would have been able to hear him speak out loud.

“Was, was that you?” She asked, knocking again and adding to his hangover. “Please, Mr. Hux, I need help.” Her voice hitched on the words, like she was keeping herself from crying. “My sister is missing, and the police don’t seem to care,”

“And I don’t know where else to go. Every hour she’s gone is just one more hour she might be hurt or in danger.”

Hux reached for the doorknob only to pull it back at the last moment when he heard the sound of her pendent running along the chain, and just like it had last night, Hus was reminded of the last woman he was too late to help. Hux had searched those woods for days with no trace of Kay, eventually having to give up. And give up he had, moving clear across the planet to get away from the biggest failure of his life. 

“Mr. Hux, please. 

You’re my only hope.”

Hux reached again for the doorknob, pausing to take another deep breath to steady himself only to confronted by the fresh, soft sweet scent that surrounded the woman on the other side of the door. He shouldn’t do this; he should send her away, go back to bed, and nurse this hangover from hell. Cases were piling up on his desk, all of them needing his attention. Each one of them having not one damn thing to do with a five-foot-nothing, raven-haired woman with almonds shaped eyes and smelled of home; the woman he couldn’t get out of his mind, the one standing a step away.

But despite all of that, despite all of the reasons Hux could come up with to not open the door, Hux unlocked the deadbolt, turned the knob readying himself to take in the sight of the woman on the other side.

Rose’s heart beat wildly in her chest when she heard the deadbolt unlock and the doorknob begins to turn. Dropping the pendent she nervously played with, she reached down to gather her bags she dropped when she first arrived. After looking up Armitage Hux’s information but before heading over to his office, what she now knew was his apartment, Rose stopped at Paige’s apartment to gather everything she could think of that might give them any leads on where Paige was. The police had stop by the trashed apartment and looked things over, but Rose didn’t honestly believe for a moment they would think to look at the more obscure things that she had found after they left.

Together with two grocery bags full and goodies from Canada’s finest coffee shop, Rose headed over to the apartment, which wasn’t too far from Paige’s place. 

“I brought coffee and Timbits!” Rose knew she probably looked like a crazy person but what kind of person was she to show up at someone’s place at 8 am to beg them to help find your missing sister and not have Tim Horton’s as a peace offering?

And let’s be honest here, what kind of person turns down donut holes and coffee?

“No.”

“I’m sorry?” Rose looked at the man, confused.

“The Timbits, no, thank you.” Rose noticed he still hadn’t let her in the apartment, but he hadn’t shut the door on her face so, baby steps.

“Oh, umm, ok,” She was a little confused but still held out a large red cup with white writing. “I didn’t know how you would want it, so I left it black. I hope that’s ok. Careful it’s hot.”

Mr. Hux reached out of the door to take the coffee and began to gulp at the piping hot liquid.

“Oh,” Rose said, little more than shocked at his intake of the blisteringly hot coffee. She added milk and sugar to hers, and it was still too hot most days. 

“Mr. Hux, if you don’t mind, I’d like to talk with you about my sister? She’s…”

“Missing,” He finished his sip and looked at her, his shocking jade green eyes mesmerizing. “I know. What makes you think I can help you?”

The way he spoke to her made Rose think she made a mistake; that her instincts were wrong about him and the thought made Rose want to fall to the ground in a heap of tears and Timbits. 

“Well, Mr. Hux,”

“Hux.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Not Mister, just Hux.”

“Oh,” Rose took a deep breath before continuing. She knew she was doing the right thing being here; Paige would want Rose to do everything she could to find her, and if that meant dealing with the grumpy man, then so be it.

“Ok, well then, Hux, my sister is missing.” Rose practiced her speech on the way over to his apartment, speaking the words as clearly and succinctly as she could, so there would be no mistake as to why she was on his doorstep at eight in the morning. 

Rose stood up a little straighter and shifted the bags on her shoulder before continuing her speech. “I have gone to the police, and they don’t care one way or another. It has been over 72 hours since I last heard from Paige, and over 48 since I walked into her apartment, which is around the corner, by the way, to find the whole place trashed.”

Was Rose mistaken in thinking she saw a small twitch on Hux’s face when she told him about the apartment? Or was that the hope she was holding mixed with the apparent hangover he was throwing off? To her absolute astonishment, Hux moved and opened the door wider, allowing her to enter the apartment. She hefted the bags again along with the box of Tidbits and her coffee and walked inside, knowing she had a manic expression on her face. But Rose didn’t care how she looked or that her shoulders were about to break under the weight of Paige’s things. Rose was one step closer to finding her sister.

To say the apartment was sparse was an understatement: what looked to have been a large studio apartment cut into two smaller spaces thanks to a wall of frosted glass which now served as the bedroom. The hallway from the front door housed the small bathroom, and the kitchen sat along the opposite wall, which led into the small living room and office. There was no couch but preferably two chairs, like the kind Rose had seen in waiting rooms, which faced the large desk covered in paperwork and camera equipment. The wall behind the desk, which faced the two chairs, was covered with sticky notes. 

“What does your sister do?” Hux finally spoke as he walked behind the desk and began moving papers around, making more and more precarious-looking stacks, which made Rose feel like they could fall over at any moment. 

Rose was a very organized person. She loved clean and open spaces, where everything had a place and purpose. 

Growing up, she had to make the most out of any small thing she had, and this had given her great respect for upcycling, DIY, and the motto of “if I don’t need it right then, I don’t need it at all.”

As an event planner, Rose went out of her way to decorate spaces with things that could be reused over and over again while always looking fresh and new. 

The book she was finally able to write was all about event planning on a budget and showing just how simple it was to do amazing things with very little. 

“She’s an investigative journalist.” Rose finally answered once Hux had taken a seat. Only then did she put her things down and sit across from him, opening up the small red box and taking out a cinnamon and sugar donut hole.

“Paige is the one who wrote the piece on the corruption of the Provincial Governor a few years ago.” That piece and the several that had followed it had taken the entire province and the country itself by storm. Paige had won awards for not only her writing but for her journalistic integrity for not giving up her sources in the government, even under threat of legal action and jail time.

“The Governor is on trial now,” Hux leaned back and drank more of the coffee Rose had brought him. “Do you think that has anything to do with her disappearance?”

Rose had to keep her excitement to herself. Finally, after three days, someone was taking her seriously.

“It has to be, right?” Rose said, trying not to sound as giddy as she felt.

“Not necessarily,” Hux responded to himself, almost too quiet to hear. “Listen, Miss. Tico,” he sat back up, looking at her from 5 feet away. This did not bode well for Paige.

“Hux, before you tell me that she is probably taking a break, or is hiding out somewhere because she got to close to a story or some other bull shit platitude, know this;” Rose took out her phone and opened it to the last text she received from Paige.

“Three days ago, I was supposed to meet my sister.” She began speaking, calmer than she felt. “I had come from a meeting that Paige knew was a big deal for me. Earlier that morning, Paige told me to come over after my meeting.” Rose turned the phone around to show it to Hux.

“My sister doesn’t disappear like this. She doesn’t leave without telling me where she’s going. That’s not how she operates. If she even goes up to the mountains for the day, she tells me. For her to leave without any warning on such a huge day for me is not normal.”

Hux took the phone from Rose, knowing full well he would scan through the rest of the texts. It didn’t matter that he would see the silly conversations between sisters. It didn’t matter that he would read about the hookup and instant regret with her Ex she had a few weeks ago. All that mattered was finding Paige, and if that meant her entire life was on display for him to see, then so be it.

“My sister is an organized, neat freak who knows where every single thing in her apartment is at any given time. Her apartment was trashed. I don’t mean some papers out of place, or a few drawers opened; what I mean is the couch cushions were ripped open and stuffing coming out of them. The drawers weren’t just opened but pulled off their hinges and the papers tossed on the floor. Even her kitchen cabinets were opened. There was Rice, cereal, and even some jarred foods were dumped into the sink.”

Rose didn’t know when she had stood up, but she used it to her advantage.

“Something has happened to my sister, Mr. Hux. And I am not going to stop until she is found.”

Rose sat back down and watched as Hux scratched at his face; the ginger scruff along the jawline was thicker than she had remembered from the night before. Rose had never really thought about facial hair; all her exes were clean-shaven and, well, clean everywhere else, too, never a hair out of place and never not fully put together. Rose sat back down and took his silence as a good thing, taking the time to look at the man sitting across from her.

The first thing Rose noticed at the police station was his shockingly bright red hair and matching beard. In the Pacific North West and especially Vancouver, the lumberjack look was trendy, but Rose had never really fallen for its charms. They were too big and burly, and Rose always wondered if they got food or other things caught in those big bushy beards. But Hux was a little different from the typical type: as he sat there, she noticed he was lithe with corded muscle. Rose couldn’t help but watch as Hux pushed his Henley’s long sleeves up to his elbows, giving Rose a full glimpse at the lean muscles in his forearm. Rose also noticed his long, slender fingers as he scrolled over her phone. 

Armitage Hux wasn’t a burly sort of man, but more lupin in his demeanor, gracefully in his movements. 

Rose shook off that thought of lupin or wolf-like because that was ridiculous. She only had wolves on the brain because of Paige’s notes, the ones talking about pack life and migrations. 

Hux reached back to hand Rose her phone, then stood up and walked to the massive wall of windows that framed the entire back of the room. Rose noticed as he scanned the city; the early morning fog was breaking up, and the sails from the marina were now easily visible from where she sat.

“Did you speak to anyone at the police station? Other than a uniformed cop?” His voice almost startled her when he spoke.

“Yes, a detective Poe Dameron.”

Rose stifled a giggle when she watched Hux grimace at the name.

“Do you know him?” Rose asked.

“We’ve crossed paths,” he said, tipping the red cup back as far as he could, emptying its contents into his mouth. “I’ll contact him and see what he has.”

“So, you’ll take the case?” Rose stood again, keeping herself from running over to him. “You’ll find my sister?”

Hux turned to her with a stern look on his brow.

“I will talk with Dameron and see what he has, Miss Tico; that is the best I can do right now.”

“Rose.” She responded quickly, mimicking what he had said to her earlier. “Please, call me Rose.”

Rose wondered why he looked angry at her request but didn’t care; this man would help her find Paige. He would talk with the police, and maybe, just maybe, he would get farther than she could. 

Rose left the apartment like she was walking on air. For the first time in three days, Rose had hope; hope that she would find Paige and that she would be alright. Hux had requested that she leave the bags of papers that she had brought with her and take the Timbits. 

“I don’t care for the sweet and warm smell.” He had said. What kind of man hates donut holes? Rose couldn’t get past that, but she wasn’t going to let it ruin her day.

Paige would be found. Hux had assured her he would look into his disappearance and keep her in the loop. That was all he could promise her right then. The sugar high and caffeine buzz wearing off, Rose put the box of Timbits on the counter and sat on her couch, laying down on one of the small fuzzy pink pillows. What good was she to Paige if she was so sleep deprived that she missed something important? She needed sleep more than anything. Feeling hope for the first time in days, Rose closed her eyes and drifted off. 


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lone wolf must ask for help

Hux pushed his damp hair back away from his face with one hand as the other brought a half-smoked cigarette to his mouth. Inhaling tobacco and nicotine and allowing the puff of smoke to linger around him as he exhaled; anything to mask her scent. Even hours later, her lingering scent markers continued to fill Hux’s head, overrunning his senses and clouding his mind; her fresh scent surrounded him like the early morning fog which covered his beloved forest. Standing on the balcony, a glass of whiskey in hand, watching as the sun went down its golden glow ducking behind the mountains across the bay. 

“Fuck,” The word said through a frustrated exhale of cigarette smoke into the stagnant summer night air. 

Hux needed to get over these emotions, push past these irrational thoughts he was already attaching to this woman, and get on with his life, but dammit, if he couldn’t get Rose Tico out of his mind. 

Rose.

Hux refused to get attached. The last time he allowed himself this kind of sympathy towards a woman, his stupidity allowed her to die, and Kaydel had been a wolf, a member of his kind, someone who had the preternatural abilities to take care of herself. This woman, Rose, was human. If Hux failed her, the blame would be entirely on him. What could Rose do to defend herself?

In the short time he had been around Rose, Hux noticed her build, she was lean and fit, but nothing showed she might be capable of protecting herself, not like a shifter could. Maybe he should give her a weapon and train her how to use it.

No! He was not going to fucking do that! That would be positively ludicrous; he was leaving her once he found her sister, that was it. Hux wasn’t keeping her, a human who had to be 5’2 at best and weigh 110 pounds soaking wet! It didn’t matter that her hair was the color of the night’s sky or that her eyes were the color of fresh earth; her smile made him feel like he was home.

Taking one last drag from his cigarette, taking a strange sort of pleasure watching the dying embers scatter into the little winds there was this high up, Hux leaned on the balcony railing again, dropping his head in frustrated resignation. 

Hux didn’t often smoke; only when he needed to concentrate on Something, or when he needed to calm his racing mind, did he reach for the pack of clove cigarettes he had stashed around the apartment. He had thought about another whiskey bender, perhaps a repeat of the epic one from the night before, but Hux needed to keep his mind sharp where this case and this woman was concerned. 

Taking another out of its pack, Hux smiled to himself, thinking about how much Kay hated when he smoked, telling him the smell masked his woodsy and mossy scent she loved so much.   
Smoking couldn’t harm wolves, not like in humans. There was no risk of cancer or lung disease, but it still affected their systems the same as humans, addiction, alcohol, drugs, or in Hux’s case, cigarettes were still prevalent in the wolf population. The only difference was that wolves couldn’t die from these vices.

From a young age, the central lesson children in a pack learn is that they are not truly immortal, despite how much they liked to think differently; like humans, werewolves had a typical lifespan: they are born, they grow up, and in their old age, die. What set Hux and his kind apart from humans, other than the ability to manipulate bones, muscles, and organs from humans into that of a wolf, was rapid healing and immunity to most fatal illnesses. Only a mortal wound, something their rapid healing could not fix, or the injection into the bloodstream of a spore from a reasonably uncommon silver mushroom are the two ways in which to kill a wolf. 

Hux rubbed his chest where four now faded scars ran down the left side of his chest. He could still feel the burning pain where the claws had ripped open his skin, how Hux wished he would be taken from this world, hoping the claw marks were deep enough to kill. But the wolf who gave him the scars wouldn’t give Hux that satisfaction, even though he begged Ren to end it. 

Hux's skin began tightening again as he took one last draw on the cigarette. The smoking hadn't been able to ease his itchy feet, just as the five-mile run and multiple showers after Rose has left hadn't quieted his mind. Hux knew what he needed, the skin starched think over the corded muscle of his arms and hands were screaming at him, and no amount of smoking or drinking would help take this kind of edge off. It had been months since Hux had last shifted, and even then, it had been to help heal from a deep wound. Back in England, Hux shifted almost daily; the wild open air he took in running with Kay was everything to him; living in his small village outside of Wales also allowed him to comfort each shift's safety. 

Well, at least that’s what he had thought.

Vancouver wasn’t anything like his village in Wales, with paths only lit by moonlight; the cobblestone streets that made up the urban sprawl were wide and well lit, the streetlights making it a pedestrian’s paradise even at night. Even if Hux shifted in an ally between buildings, it could still be in full view of people, and changing in his apartment was not an option. If any of his neighbors saw a wolf roaming the hallway, he would end up in animal control, if not dead. There was only one option: get in his car and drive half an hour into the dense forest-covered mountains. 

The choice made, Hux grabbed his keys and moved quickly through the hallways making it to the elevator in record time; in no mood for idle chit chat, he was happy that no one tried to get onto the elevator with him. Once in the car, and the AC on full blast, Hux pulled out of the parking garage; his destination: anywhere by here.

Hux tried not to think about anything other than getting to a secluded area of the forest he liked; the trees were dense with no discernable path that deterred hikers. Deep in thought on the quickest route out of town, Hux came to a stop, the bright red light of the traffic signal turning quickly from yellow to red before he could drive through. A glance through the passenger side window, Hux saw the address of the building he was stopped at, 810 Cordoba. The old converted brick warehouses made into one room lofts sat next to Hux, mocking him. The red brick building wasn't just any converted loft space one could see sprinkled around the city; no, this was Paige's apartment building. Along with bags filled with scribbled notes, Rose had also given Hux her sister's address, as well as a description of the apartment.   
"It's the basement apartment facing the street," Rose told Hux as she wrote down the address. "She always said she was going to write a story on the ridiculous shoes she saw passing her window." Hux fought hard not to think about the small giggle Rose had made at the memory as she handed him the paper. 

Hux sat at the light, trying his damndest not to notice that a few of the apartments were light from the inside, not strange for seven o’clock at night. Still, on closer inspection, the basement apartment facing the street had lights on and at least one silhouette moving around inside. 

Had Rose left the light on? Had the police finally gone through the apartment, leaving on a lamp? These were all excellent questions, but ones that only added to Hux’s prickly mental state. He would check it out when he came back, he promised to himself. Hux only promised Rose he would look into her sister’s disappearance, but that didn’t mean he had to dive deep into the case tonight. He needed to be in the right headspace to start reading the mass of papers Rose had brought before he even went into that apartment. 

But Something wasn’t sitting right with Hux the longer he sat at the light.

HONK!

The light changed, but Hux stayed put, the hair on his neck prickling, a faint scent that was didn’t make sense.

HONK!

Hux growled at the car he saw in his rearview mirror and the face looking back at him was not wholly human. His eyes, ordinarily sage green, now appeared a bright jade, glowing from the inside. Hux's cheekbones were sharper and more predominant, resting higher on his face and helped to frame the jaw shifting, filling with bigger, sharper teeth. 

Shit! Hux knew he couldn't be seen in this condition. The mountains were calling to him, a siren call he desperately needed to answer. So, why was he turning into the parking lot behind Paige’s apartment? Why was he parking and getting out of the car?   
Beyond mad at himself, Hux gripped the keys tighter in his hand out of frustration and felt claws dig into his palm. 

"Calm the fuck down," The words coming out in a hiss from behind the elongated fangs filling his mouth.

Hux hadn't had this hard of a time pulling back a shift since he was a young wolf just learning how to turn on command. Hux was a born alpha, his control legendary among those in his pack. In twenty-four hours after meeting one single woman, Hux had found himself taking on a case he did not want, lost in a fog of memories he couldn't ignore no matter how drunk he got himself. Now Hux was acting an overdramatic asshole incapable of keeping his emotions in check. 

"In," Hux said, taking a breath in through his nose, "and out," releasing it in as controlled a breath as he possibly could. 

He needed backup. On the off chance, human police were, in fact, in the apartment, Hux needed someone who could act as a buffer in case he Hulked out while inside. 

So, instead of walking into the apartment half-assed, he took out his phone and called the one he dreaded contacting. Hux hated asking for help, especially from this particular wolf, but he did tell Rose he would take her case. And despite all rational and reasonable excuses he could think of, Hux wanted to help this woman. 

After a few more calming breathes, Hux cleared his throat and dialed, annoyed at himself that he had it memorized.

“It’s Hux; I need your help.”  


It was a quiet night for a Thursday in late summer; with his paperwork all but completed, only a few things left to sign and file, Poe Dameron felt confident that closing up early would be perfectly fine. Before becoming a member of the Vancouver municipal police department, Poe had worried if he would be able to juggle police work and his standing in his pack. It wasn't uncommon for members to go out into the world and work alongside humans but rarely do they go into public service. Wolves took care of their own, stayed close to the pack, and cared for those within their family groups. Poe's choice of civil service was almost unheard of for a wolf. 

For Poe, however, following his first year on the force, the pack leaders agreed the job was important, giving their approval to continue. The best part was, Poe believed he had found his calling. No matter what, though, Poe always put the members of his pack first, and yes, there had been times he had to use his potion in the department to cover tracks that might lead back one of the wolf packs in the region. But when it came down to the nitty-gritty, Poe believed that as a uniformed officer and now as a detective, he was able to protect not only the city but his family. 

Poe's cell phone began to buzz just as he finished signing his name to a file, his shoulders sinking at the intrusion. Poe had plans tonight; a drink at the Moon Dancer, followed by going for a run at Stanly Park. The park would be closed in a few hours, and it would give him a chance the shift and run under the almost full moon. 

"Please don't be work," He said, reaching into his pocket taking out the small rectangle. 

"Shit," The screen read HUX; Poe couldn’t help but stare at it for a few moments before answering. 

“Dameron,” He answered quietly, looking around the station to see if anyone noticed that he was on the phone. He didn’t know why he didn’t want others to see him talking with Hux; it wasn’t as if he didn’t speak with other pack members on the phone all the time. Hell, some of them had even come into the station on occasion. But Poe realized quickly that if Hux was calling him, something must be wrong.

“It’s Hux. I need your help.”

When Hux came to Vancouver, Poe was one of the first to greet him. Poe and a small delegation consisting of members of his pack and a few from other family groups came to his place to welcome him to town. They also wanted to find out why a lone wolf would move into their area without any notification. Werewolf packs weren’t much different from other wolves; the larger the group, the safer those in the packs were. Children were safer being raised within the pack, and one rarely left unless they were tossed out. The sudden emergence of an alpha on his own gave the other packs reason to worry.

Poe knew of Hux even before they had met: the disgraced pack leader Poe had been told about from his former pack member and best friend, Ren. The scent of shame, grief, and Kaydel still lingered around the new alpha. If Hux knew he was part of Kay and Ren’s old pack, he never let on. Poe wanted to hate the man; he ached to shun him, make his life a living hell because of what he had done to his best friend’s sister. But, when Poe finally asked why Hux had chosen Vancouver, the man’s answer was filled with sorrow and heartbreak. 

“My beloved was from here. She’s dead now.”

It wasn’t enough that Hux blamed himself for Kay’s death, Poe had thought; it was more that he could tell the man was trapped in that moment of loss, replaying what had happened and what, if anything, he could do to change the outcome.

“You’re in luck; I am just heading out,” Poe answered as he swung his leather motorcycle jacket on and turned off the lamp from his desk. “Want to meet at Moon Dancer?”

Moon Dancer was a local bar popular with wolves not far from the station. 

“No.”

Hux’s answer sounded curt and faintly annoyed, but Poe would have been shocked if it hadn't been

“You got the Tico case, right? Her sister reported her missing a few days ago and was finally able to file a report today, correct?”

Poe stopped halfway to the door leading out of the station, silently swearing to himself. The missing Tico woman was one of the things Poe had put aside until the morning. Poe took missing people seriously; this case, however, wasn’t screaming foul play to him. 

“I take it the sister hired you?”

“Something like that. Listen, you don’t happen to have anyone at the sister's apartment right now, do you? I’m outside, the lights are on, and I can see movement.”

Poe began moving again, this time with a little more speed towards the door.

“No," Poe answered, glancing around, making sure no one heard his conversation. "I don’t have anyone over there. Could it be the sister?” He exited the door and turned in the direction of the Tico woman’s apartment.

“Not her scent,” Hux answered, his voice so soft that without his wolf’s hearing, Poe wouldn’t have been able to hear it. 

“Stay where you are, don’t go in without me.”

Poe began to run, his feet eating up the short distance between the station and Paige Tico’s apartment building. As he moved, Poe worked through all the scenarios of who could be in the apartment, and none made sense. Hux claimed the scent wasn’t the sister’s, which lead to only two conclusions: this might have a real missing person’s case on his hands, and if so, Poe had royally fucked up

Arriving at the apartment not long after hanging up the phone, Poe discovered the slender wolf casually leaning against the wall tossing a small knife, catching it again after it made several rotations in the air. It was one when Poe got closer to the door that he was able to notice the entrance to the apartment had been busted into, a broken lock, and what looked like gouges in the metal frame. 

“They’re gone," Hux said as Poe entered the hallway. "There’s a window that opens up to the ally. I saw the light in the neighbor's place come on, so I'm guessing whoever it was didn't want to risk being caught. ” Hux pointed to the door down the hallway to a second apartment. “But they definitely came in through here.”

"I thought I asked you to stay where you were?" Poe asked as he passed the redheaded wolf to get closer to the door. He chose to ignore the raised eyebrow Hux gave him, the only indication he did, in fact, ignore his request. 

Poe looked at the mangled door and took out his phone, opening the flashlight app to get a closer look. 

“Did you touch anything?” Poe asked as he took out a pair of crime scene gloves he always had with him, handing a pair to Hux as he opened the door. 

“What the fuck?”

When Poe spoke with the sister, Rose, if he remembered the name correctly, she had said the place was torn apart; the apartment ransacked and left in complete chaos. He and Hux walked in on something out of a war zone: couch pillows ripped with the stuffing pulled out and left all over the floor. 

Against the back wall, the desk had been nearly split in half; its drawers pulled out and left shattered on the floor. Paper and lose office supplies were left scattered on the floor. Poe saw decorations from the shelving above the desk had been pulled down, some of them broken beyond repair laying along with side pages from books ripped into pieces left in loose piles. 

“She said the apartment was trashed, but she didn’t say anything to this extent,” Poe said, still taking in the room.

“What the fuck did you think she meant, then?" Hux's voice wasn't angry, but Por could still hear the anger that boiled beneath. "She came to the police because her sister was missing after finding her apartment like this.”  
Poe knew he had fucked up, but in his defense, he had believed the sister was hiding and would return on her own terms. 

“Hux, do you know how many people we get saying their loved one is missing," Poe watched as Hux picked up what was left of a couch cushion bringing it to his face and taking in the scent. "Only to find out they went on holiday or was hiding from a loan shark?“ Poe thought, picking up one of the books from the ground, flipping through the pages hoping to find something. What did it matter? Hux didn't care. "You know what? Forget it. I need to call this in.”

Poe pulled his phone back out of his pocket and began to dial the switchboard desk, turning into the kitchen, the damage continuing.   
“It’s Dameron; I need a crime scene team to 810 Cordova, basement apartment 2,”

“Hang up!” Hux growled, ripping the phone out of Poe’s hand, ending the call. 

“What are you doing?” Poe’s hand shot out, almost connecting with Hux’s face as he reached for his phone. “Listen, you may be an alpha, but you are not my alpha, and I call the shots here...”

“Damnit, Dameron, can you not smell that?” Hux thrust the couch cushion he had been smelling into Poe’s face before he could answer. Poe had been so preoccupied with the room's destruction, missing the lingering scent. A faint, almost subtle aroma of Lycan, the musky and dark scent that clung to one of their kind.

“Wolf?”

At first glance, this case had been a series of miss understandings; one sister probably hiding from the other. But as the seconds ticked by, Poe’s original hopes that this case would be easy were dwindling. If someone had asked Poe an hour ago where he thought this case would end up, nothing would have come close to where he was just then: standing in Paige Tico's apartment with more than one scents of wolves, none of which he recognized. 

“Why the fuck would wolves be in this apartment? What were they looking for?” Poe asked no one in particular while Hux began sifting through each piece of broken ephemera tossed on the ground; each time, he brought it to his nose only to be more and more frustrated.

“Do you recognize any of these scents?” Hux said, bringing a shredded pillow to Poe's nose.

“It’s no one from my pack; I can at least tell you that.” Poe began bringing things up to his nose then tossing them behind himself as he walked through the apartment. Much like a human's fingerprint, each wolf had its own personal scent distinguishing each wolf as an individual, but, as part of that pack, a wolf still had faint markers connecting them to the family unit, which also helped identify the large groups themselves. For instance, Poe’s group lived by the sea, which gave each member a hint of saltwater to their scent. However, what he and Hux were dealing with in the apartment was unlike anything Poe had come across before; the smell was sharp, tangy, and a hint of metal. “Are we sure the sisters aren’t wolves? Could this be their scent?”

“No,” Hux answered instantly as he moved into the bedroom.

“Rose if fully human, and I would have to assume the sister is too,” Hux said, putting a now cracked picture frame of a happy family into Poe’s hands. The photo of a mother and father together with their two daughters, one about fifteen years old and the other in graduation robes holding a diploma. Even from the photo, Poe could tell they had been a happy family.

"A crime has occurred here, Hux. I have to tell my lieutenant. There’s an open missing person’s report on her, and I can’t let that just get lost.”

Hux stopped in the tracks and stared at Poe, his eyes changing from the moss green to a luminescent jade causing Poe to stop in his tracks. Poe was beta. It didn't matter if Hux was his alpha; Poe’s deference to the stronger male was clear. 

“There is no way I can allow the human police to investigate this, Dameron.”

“We still don’t know what happened, Hux.” Poe countered, still showing respect. “Yes, we know wolves are involved, but we DON’T know if this incident is Lycanthrope in nature.”

“What the fuck is that even mean?” 

“Were there wolves in here? Yes. Do we know if this is because of a wolf-based issue? No. Could this have been a robbery that just happened to be done by wolves but in actuality has absolutely nothing to do with the fact they are wolves? Possibly.”

“Nothing you just said made sense,”

“Hux,”

“No, Dameron, let me tell you what I know," Hux held up one finger in Poe's face. "Paige Tico is missing, and her sister pleaded with me to find her." Another finger. "When I got here, there were two people, neither of them Paige Tico, tossing the place. Again. Which I take to mean whoever turned this place into a warzone the first time didn't find what they were looking for and came back tonight," Poe chewed the inside of his cheek in anger as a third and final finger was added. "And the rotten cherry on top of the shit sundae we have found ourselves this evening, the place reeks of blood, metal and spice. The last time I smelled something I didn't know was the night Kaydel was killed. 

Poe could see the pain and grief pass across Hux's features, there and gone in a matter of moments. 

“Now," Hux finally backed out of Poe's space, allowing both of them to relax slightly. "The way I see it, you have two choices; you can come back to my place, help me go over the ridiculous amount of shit Rose she collected when she was here last." 

Hux moved to the door, opening it before turning back to look at Poe. "Or do you want to go back to your human boss and tell him about the clusterfuck of a missing woman involving super-secret supernatural shapeshifters. But don't worry too much about it; you have it under control because, fun fact, you, yourself, are a fucking werewolf.”

Poe knew better than to question an alpha or be prepared for the consequences. 

“Fine,” Poe said, finally taking his phone back from Hux’s hand and redialing the station. “I wasn’t going to start anything with this case until tomorrow; you’d be amazed at how easily paperwork disappears from my desk.”

It only took a few moments to settle the CSI department, telling him it was a false alarm, telling them what he thought was a crime scene was an escape room. Poe was not looking forward to the backlash that would cause in the bullpen when he went back in. Taking another look around, Poe was still in awe at the carnage. The apartment had once been a happy, clean, safe space for Paige Tico, but now it was anything but. 

Poe watched as Hux took the keys out of his pocket and noticed for the first time the length of Hux’s fingers and the dark claws that tipped the elongated fingers. 

“Hux, you ok?”

Hux looked down and let another slow growl walking out of the door.

So much for his easy night.


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I always feel like, somebody's watching me

  
Warm air hit Rose's face as she exited the dojo, the thick humidity making her already sweaty skin stickier as she walked towards the bus stop. The day before had been a maelstrom of emotions; having finally been able to sleep after the sleepless nights; Rose woke up refreshed and with a new outlook on the situation, not to mention a crap ton of excess energy ready to be burned off. Thankfully, it was Thursday, her favorite night of the week. Each week Rose got more and more excited about wrapping her fists in tape, prepared to beat the shit out of either a bag, dummy, or, like tonight, another classmate. Most women she knew liked to mix their workouts up with something like CrossFit or kickboxing, but not Rose Tico; she took Muay Thai and was one of the few women in the class. The endorphin release Rose got from one class was, at times, better than sex. Not to mention, it helped her feel safe when she walked the streets alone at night. 

In the hours leading up to her class, Rose worried she was being selfish, thinking she needed to keep working on finding Paige. Rose couldn't help but think Paige was out there waiting for Rose to save her, and missing one class wouldn't be a terrible thing. But as she paced her apartment, thinking of all the reasons she shouldn't go, Rose got antsier and antsier; she needed this release. As she packed her gear, she could practically hear Paige's voice telling her, "Go and kick some ass, Roro!"

The truth was Rose loved her classes and knew missing one would only make her feel worse. When she first started taking them, it had been a dare; three years ago, Rose had mentioned on her blog that she wanted to find something challenging to add to her workout routine. Yoga and jogging just weren't doing the trick any longer, and she wanted something that engaged her mind as well as her body. A reader suggested she join her at the open house at a Muay Thai dojo, telling Rose it had helped her through a difficult time following an assault. Jannah, now one of Rose's closest friends, had told Rose that she had wanted to feel safe again, so she joined and had fallen in love with the sport. 

Rose had never felt so invigorated after a workout and had signed up for her first real class that night, never looking back. She loved how it made her feel; to not get hurt, Rose had to be fully present with what was happening around her, which meant she had to let go of whatever had been on her mind before entering the dojo. The time spent each week had become her real self-care, giving her the chance to become stronger and more self-assured. And with the week she had had, Rose needed the class more than ever. 

On any other Thursday night, Rose looked forward to her bus ride home; the thirty-minute commute from North Vancouver, across the Granville Bridge, and into town was a highlight of her night. But something didn't feel right, and Rose couldn't tell if the feeling of being watched was due to her strange week or if someone was actually watching her.   
Taking out her phone to check the time, Rose chastised herself at the thought, telling herself simply that she was still on edge with what was going on with Paige, and that was why she was feeling a little paranoid. Damn, still five minutes until her bus arrived only added to her unease.   
Rose never had issues with being out alone at night before; she always had her pepper spray and rape whistle in her bag, and if that didn't do the trick, last Christmas Paige had given her a retractable baton to beat off any attacker. Add all this to her Muay Thai training, and Rose was practically a weapon in her own right. 

Thinking about her self-defense capabilities brought her mind back to Paige and the insufferable Mr. Hux. Had he actually started looking into her sister's disappearance? Had he even cared to look at the bag of papers she had taken from the apartment? And most of all, had he been able to contact Detective Dameron to ask him about what to do next? When Rose had mentioned which detective had been assigned to her sister's case, she couldn't help but noticed that Mr. Hux hadn't been too thrilled at the name.   
Rose hoped that wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass.

Letting out a groan when she saw she still had two minutes until the bus got there, Rose decided to check in with the man to see if there was anything else he might need from her. She had left him her spare key to Paige's apartment so that he could look over the place himself, but Rose wanted to keep the lines of communications open between the two of them. God only knew if she would have the same type of relationship with the police.

Rose: Hi, I just wanted to check in and see if there was anything you needed from me tonight. I am always reachable on the phone, or if it's better for you, you can text me. 

Rose hit send just as the bus came into view. Exchanging her phone with a Metro Pass, she boarded the bus and went to her seat. As she got comfortable for the trip, Rose took her phone out again, frowning at the lack of response. Maybe he didn't know who was texting him. She didn't see him put her name in the contact form, and this was the first time she had texted him since giving him her number. 

Rose: This is Rose Tico, BTW.

Still nothing. The bus's doors closed behind a young blond giving Rose a small smile before sitting down in a seat a few rows behind her. 

As Rose watched the city pass by, she couldn't help but check her phone every few seconds for an answer.   
Damn, she hated when people didn't respond right away; it made Rose anxious and killing whatever buzz of endorphins she had from her class. Was something wrong? Had something happened to him? Or was he just ignoring her until she went away?

No.

Rose said to herself, putting her phone away in the outside pocket of her bag.

Just because he isn't answering you doesn't mean that he's ignoring you or that something is wrong.   
Not everyone checks their phone religiously. Calm the fuck down, Rose.

This pep talk seemed to ease Rose" s racing mind enough to enjoy the rest of her ride home. The cabin lights were dimmed slightly, giving the interior a softer, cozier feel allowing the commuters a chance to see the beautiful glow as the sun made its final descent behind the mountains in the distance. Rose's phone buzzed just as they were crossing over the Granville bridge and, in her rush to get to the thing, knocked over her entire bag spilling its contents on the floor of the bus.

"Fuck!" Rose swore as she scrambled to the ground, unable to find her phone in the mess.

"Here," a soft said. "this slid farther back." The blond woman stood in front of Rose, holding out her phone. A scar marring her face was more noticeable now that the woman was closer.

"Oh my God, thank you!" Rose let out a breath, taking the phone from the woman as she shoved her belongings back in her bag and righting herself in the chair.

"It's no problem," The other woman answered as she went back to gather her own things, returning to Rose, giving her another one of those sweet smiles. "Have a nice night." The blond said as she walked towards the front of the bus, the next stop being hers.

Rose had always believed that being kind to others was what kept one young and healthy, that there was no reason to be mean and spiteful without cause. If the situation had been reversed, she knew she would have done the same. Maybe even starting up a conversation until one of their stops came into view.

Once the bus was moving again, Rose finally read the text that was waiting.

Mr. Hux: Thank you.

Rose let out another groan and tossed her phone back in her bag. Well, at least he wasn't ignoring her.

  
Rose reached over to her bedside table, feeling around until her hand gripped the phone buzzing incessantly. Glancing at the screen, she jumped up in bed when reading Mr. Hux on the caller ID.

"Hold on," she said after pushing the green button and sitting up quickly, grabbing her glasses as she did so.

"I'm here, please, hold on one moment." The clock across the room read 9:30, causing Rose to feel even more panicked than before. She had so much work to do for the event in a week that she didn't have time to sleep in.

"Miss. Tico, shall I call you back at a better time?" Mr. Hux's voice could be heard slightly muffled from the phone resting in her lap.

"NO!" Rose answered, finally bringing the device to her ear. "No, I'm here."

"If you are not otherwise engaged," Mr. Hux said with that slightly annoyed tone he always seemed to have. "Would you please come to my office this morning? There are a few things I wish to go over with you."

Glancing at the clock again, Rose inwardly grumbled at his request knowing she had multiple things to do that morning regarding the large formal birthday event she had scheduled, but Paige took precedent. She knew she could do what she needed to that afternoon if she got to Mr. Hux's place as soon as possible. 

"Yes, Mr. Hux, I will be there in a little while." The man was not one to mince words, but it still shocked her that he hung up at her response. 

"God," she said, pushing hair out of her face. "He's such a dick!"

After a quick shower and a call to her friend Frankie Harington, Rose was at Mr. Hux's office slash apartment door within the hour.

"I know you don't like Timbits," Rose said once the door was open, and the tall ginger man was in view. "still can't imagine why other than you're English and just don't know good food when you taste it, so I called in a favor from my friend." Rose knew she was rambling again, so, instead, she lifted the bag of goodies to his view. "Porchetta sandwiches from Meat & Bread."

Next to Tim Horton's, Meat & Bread was the gold standard of the Vancouver food scene. The sandwich shop made its mark with its undeniably good porchetta sandwich that typically ran out before midafternoon each day.

"You went to Meat & Bread?" A male voice came from inside the apartment, making Rose look around the tall man still blocking her entrance.

"It's only 10:30; how did you get that so early?" Detective Dameron moved into view, smiling at Rose as he moved closer to the door. 

"I'm friends with the owners, and they owed me a favor," Rose said once she was finally allowed to enter the room. "I didn't know you would be here, Detective." Rose placed the bag on the kitchen counter. "Good thing I brought three."

"Please, Miss. Tico," he said, holding out his hand. "Call me, Poe."

Rose was hesitant to take the offered hand; only days before, he had practically written her and Paige off as a non-case. Telling her, yet again, that her sister would show up and not to worry. Now he wanted to be her friend and eat her sandwiches?

But that's not how Rose was raised, and she wasn't about to burn a bridge when she needed all the help she could get. But that didn't mean she would trust him right away. 

"Call me Rose," finally placing her hand in his. "So, my sister's disappearance is more interesting now that I've hired Mr. Hux?" Rose wasn't about to burn a bridge, but she also wasn't going to give this guy a free pass after being so rude to her.

Poe released her hand and stepped back, looking at Mr. Hux at the same time. "Umm, yeah, about that.   
I am so sorry for how you and your sisters' case has been treated, and I put myself in that as well." Poe said, moving to the piles of papers on the desk and folding table that hadn't been there before as proof of his words. "I can promise you, Rose, that Paige's disappearance is my top priority now."

"Damnit, Dameron, you don't need to lay it on so thick." Rose heard Mr. Hux snip at the other man. "Just tell her you fucked up, and let's move on, shall we."

"Mr. Hux, I see your mood hasn't changed." Rose began unpacking the food from the bag. "Let's see if some food can help that sparking attitude any, hmm?" Rose had never met a more aggravating man in her life. The faster they found Paige, the faster she could be rid of Armitage Hux.

"Ha-ha" Poe laughed at Rose's comment. "Damn, she has you to a T, doesn't she, Hugs."

If Rose didn't know better, she could have sworn she heard an actual growl coming from the other man, but whatever sound she thought she heard ended almost as soon as it began. Though, it seemed to have made Poe antsy as well.   
  
"Here, Rosie, let me help you." Poe moved quickly behind her, opening cabinets and drawers, taking out plates and flatware, and organizing the food as Rose turned to look at the seething monolith in the room.

"Mr. Hux,"

"As I've said before," He barked, moving to the table, grabbing a pack of cigarettes, and walking onto his balcony. "It's just Hux."

Leaving Poe to plate the food, Rose followed him to the door only to be stopped by the door sliding shut after him, leaving her with Poe.

"Don't mind him, Rosie." Poe said, handing her a plate with the still warm pork sandwich. "he's just an asshole."

Rose could not agree with the man more. Sitting down with her food, she looked at the stacks of paper on the table. The two men had clearly been working hard to try and make heads or tails of Paige's notes, the piles looking as if they attempted to organize it. But any questions she had for either Poe or Hux went out the window when she took a bite of the warm succulent meat between two pieces of fresh crusty bread. 

"Damn, Rosie, this is so good," Poe said around a mouth full of pork. "I never get there in time for the porchetta and have to have the meatballs. Which are good, don't get me wrong, but there's nothing like the fresh pork."

Rose smiled at the man sitting next to her on the old brown leather couch. Rose had been too upset when she was first introduced to Detective Dameron, Poe, to notice how handsome he was.   
His chocolate brown eyes and dark hair highlighted by his olive complexion was striking. When Rose had first spoken to him, there seemed to be a barrier between the two of them, a professional and cold wall of ice that kept her from seeing how warm and casual he could be. 

Rose was only half-listening as Poe began talking about his favorite places he liked to eat around the city as she looked past him to the man on the balcony; he was abrasive and short with her, which annoyed the crap out of Rose. But there was something about him that Rose was drawn to, and she just couldn't put her finger on it.

Rose had a type that seemed to be assholes if her past boyfriends and lovers were any testament.

Hux was tall and slim, but Rose knew that tight Henley hid lithe corded muscles, the ones being used to tamp out his cigarette on the balcony before turning to reenter the room.

"…And that's why I'll never eat sushi from a half-price bin again." Rose turned back into Poe while taking another bite of her sandwich, the scent of dark warm spices filling her nose.

"God, Hux," Poe made a face as Hux walked past. "can't you smoke regular cigarettes like a normal person?"

"That would mean I was a normal person." Well, Damn. Armitage Hux has a sense of humor; Who knew?

  
"Point, Hux!" Poe laughed, lapping his thighs before getting up to join Hux at his desk. He didn't hate the other wolf, but his presence brought up too many memories Hux wanted to deal with at the present moment. The woman in his apartment deserved more than his half-assed attempts at finding her sister while he mourned the loss of someone she didn't even know.

Three times Hux had come into contact with this woman leaving him feeling like being punched in the face, and each time that feeling was all on him. So, what if she reminded him of the woman he lost. So, what if he felt that he wasn't strong enough to help her, let alone be in the same company as her. None of this was Rose Tico's fault. 

As he stood on the balcony, Hux realized that his fears and trepidations from his past had no bearing on his present: Rose Tico came to him because she was in trouble, and wasn't that what he was good at? Helping people? He wasn't a hero or selfless like Dameron, but he started his business to help people, and now, for the first time, he had the chance to change someone's life for the better.

"If you are quite finished stuffing your face and regaling Miss. Tico,"

"Rose." She and Dameron had said in unison.

"Regaling Rose of your late-night culinary exploits, then I suggest we get down to the business at hand." 

He and Dameron had been up all that night trying to make sense of the chaos of not only the notes Rose had brought to them but also the scent of the wolves in her sister's apartment.   
For the most part, they could discount a fair amount of the scraps stuffed into the Nester's grocery bag, ones that were clearly about other stories or some shopping notes. 

But it was the ones written in the other language they hopped Rose would be able to translate.

"Do you know what your sister was doing before she was taken?" Hux began picking through the piles on his desk for the notes he wanted Rose to look at.

"Umm," Rose placed her plate on the table in front of her, her body bending graceful Hux knew Dameron had noticed as well.

"She went to the mountains; there's a hiking path at Blackcomb she likes to go to when she's stuck on something, like when she has writer's block." Rose began. "Paige called me on Friday morning, letting me know she was heading north and that she would be back home that night." 

Hux observed as Rose became slightly more agitated as she spoke, her scent changing and giving the faint odor of fear and unease.

"And did Paige contact you later that night?" Dameron asked, using his detective's voice and pissing Hux off in the process.

"She did, just a text," Rose said while taking her phone out of her bag. Hux watched as she scrolled through the messages, still confused about how all this fit together.

Hux moved to sit next to Rose on the couch, taking the phone from her and scrolling through. This was the second time Hux had looked through Rose's communications with her sister and again noticed when the texts become more or less one-sided.

"Before, I noticed that Paige didn't text back as much as you were to her. Is that normal?" Hux handed the phone back but didn't move from the couch. And Hux saw when the other man noted his lack of movement, smiling at Hux with a raised eyebrow.

Fucking Dameron.

"Only when she's working on something. That's why I didn't question it."

"Do you know what these say?" Hux handed Rose the notes in the other language.

"Oh," She took the notes and smiled. "They are in Vietnamese. That was our first language. We speak to each other in Vietnamese occasionally just to keep it fresh in our minds." Hux had lived in western Canada long enough to decipher one writing from another but still hadn't learned to speak or read. Maybe when this was all over, she could give him lessons.

Oh, sure, Hux, and maybe after that, she'd like to go on a moonlight stroll with you too. Rule number one: keep to yourself, you stupid Fucker.

Hux berated himself for his thoughts while Rose was translating the notes for them. The first few were simple to toss off as coincidence, "moonlight," "running," and "young children," but the last one rose Hux's heckles and from the tension in the air, Dameron's as well.

"This one is "ma sói," which, the literal translation is "Wolf Man," but it's used in stories about werewolves."

FUCK.

FUCK.

FUCK.

An entire conversation passed between Hux and Dameron in a single look. Page Tico watched a young wolf shift in the forest on Blackcomb, and if what Rose said before about her going quiet when she was working on something, she was going to write a story about what she saw.

"This one is strange," Rose's voice shook Hux out of his panic. "it's written so fast, it's almost illegible, but it says, 'nó với mẹ.'  
'it's with mom.'"

"What's with mom?" Hux pleaded with Rose to fill in the blanks as Dameron moved quickly to the balcony while taking his phone out. He could keep a great deal from his pack leaders, Leia and Han, but something of this magnitude was too much to hide. 

"I have no idea." She said quickly, making sure she understood it correctly. "our parents have been dead for eight years.

Hux stood up and began to pace the apartment. What did all this mean, and was this why Paige Tico was missing?

"Damn, I'm sorry I have to go; I have a party to do the final arranging for, and" Rose broke off her words suddenly and moved towards the bookcase. The shelves were covered with stacks of papers, camera equipment, and the case where he kept his knives. But pushed almost towards the back was a framed photo of Kaydel, the only thing Hux allowed himself to keep of her. Hux never looked at it unless he was in a deep spiral and already drunk beyond help like he had been the night before. 

"Oh, Hey." Rose said, pulling the frame out into the light. "oh, no, never mind, that's not her."

Dameron took that moment to reenter to room, stopping short at Rose's sight holding the picture of Kay.

"Who's not her?" Dameron asked carefully.

"There was a woman on the bus last night who looked like this, but it wasn't her. She had a large scar down her face and neck, and now that I look at it closely, it wasn't nearly this pretty."

Hux moved quickly, taking the frame from her and placing it face down on the shelf.

"I felt like I was being followed last night, but that's just silly." She said, gathering her things and walking towards the door. "I blame all this and too many True Crime podcasts," Rose said her goodbyes and closed the door to a stunned Hux and Dameron.

"I want her to have protection?"

"I can put a uniform on her,"

"No. I want wolves on her."

"I can't put wolves on her, Hux." Hux felt the growl in the base of his throat as he turned around, releasing the powerful sound as he pushed Dameron into the wall.

"I mean, I can't do it," Dameron said, trying to catch his breath. "you'll have to talk to Leia. She's the only one who can sanction that. It's not up to me."

Hux slowly released the wolf and backed away. Fuck. Dealing with Leia on a good day was like walking on glass to Hux. Going to her, hat in hand, asking for the protection of a human was going to kill him. He had avoided anything to do with her since coming to the fucking continent, and he liked it that way. Leia wasn't just the leader of one of the largest and interwoven packs in North America, but she was also Kaydel's mother.

"Tell her I'll meet with her. But not one fucking word about Rose and that picture; you hear me, Dameron?"

Dameron left moments later, rushing out of the door and not looking back while Hux sat on the couch in a daze.

Had Paige Tico seen a shift in the forest, and that's why she was taken? And if so, how and why would that have happened? Blackcomb didn't have any wolves living around it, the area was too populated with tourists, and no child would be allowed that close to civilization until they could control their shifts.

Hux looked over at the shelf feeling even more confused. Rose had made a direct path to that frame, had thought it was the woman on the bus.   
What did all of this mean?

Kaydel was dead. If Hux was sure of one thing, it was that. So, who was the woman on the bus? 


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux is reunited with old friends

Hux tested the water in his shower before stepping under the hot spray and ducking his head under the showerhead before adding shampoo to the tresses creating a thick lather. He had waited until the last minute to start getting ready once getting the message from Poe that Leia would meet with him that night, hoping she would change her mind and give him the guards he was requesting to guard Rose. But hope only got him so far, and when six o’clock rolled around, he knew he didn’t have a choice. 

Hux watched the soap suds whirl around the drain while he finished washing the rest of his body with a neutral soap to allow his natural scent to be detected by other wolves. It was one thing to use Dial day today, but meeting with a pack leader like Leia Organa was not something one did every day, and Hux did not want to come off as rude. Cleaning under his nails, Hux casually pondered what Rose scented when he was around her; did she smell his natural pheromones or the cheap all-in-one soap he used? Hux absently wondered if he were to change his soap around her would she like it. Did she like how he smelled?

Hux shook his head to clear his mind from going down that particular path only after realizing how low his hand had traveled down his body. Rose Tico was a client, and that was it. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t reacted to any woman in years like the one he had to her. Hux couldn’t remember if it was this strong with Kay. His protection instinct went into overdrive at the mention that she felt she was being followed. She even said herself she imagined it, so why did he think it necessary to watch over her? What is it about this woman that gets under Hux’s skin and makes him do stupid things: things like going to meet the most respected pack leader in the northern hemisphere? Not only was she lupine royalty, but Leia was also Kaydel’s mother.

Shutting the shower off and stepping into the steamy bathroom, Hux whipped the fogged mirror, actually taking himself in for the first time in months, if not years. His hair had gotten longer, the beard unkempt and shaggy. Hux looked nothing like the Alpha he had once been. Back then, he had kept his facial hair to a soft dusting of ginger fur along his jaw, and his hair had been shorter as well. He reached for his electric shaver but stopped short of actually picking it up. 

Was he really going to change how he looked just to meet with another pack leader? Would she expect him to look the same as he had when her daughter had been his beloved?

In the end, it didn’t matter what he looked like. Hux was going to see her for one reason; Rose Tico, and try as he might, Hux was attracted to the human. She was beautiful, courageous, and took no shit. If Rose were a wolf, he would have mated her already and not thought twice about it. But wasn’t that the problem? She wasn’t a wolf, and there were strict taboos on wolf/human relationships of any kind. 

With a heavy sigh, Hux continued getting ready for the night. Half an hour later, unshaven and hair combed back, dressed in light dress pants, a pullover sweater, and converse sneakers, Hux made his way out of the parking garage heading north. The night’s sky was already losing the last of the pink and purples of dusk as the inky blanket of the night took over.

Wolves, both the Were and wild types, were nocturnal by nature, using the cover of darkness to hunt and capture their prey. With the growth of hunting as a sport for the nobility in the middle ages, Werepacks had to choose; move deeper into the forests or come out from the shadows, intermingling with villages but still living on the fringes of society. However, it wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution that packs members became fully engaged in human life, leaving the family unit to make their way in the outside world. 

Hux’s pack in Wales had been one of the few worldwide who had straddled the line between the packs and human worlds. His village was recognized in a town charter, paid taxes, and even had a small visitor center on the high street. But any human visiting the small hamlet would be none the wiser as to who was serving pints in the local pub or giving them a tour around the large manor house occupied until the coal mine closed in 1890. The mine closing led it all but abandoned, allowing the pack to move in and thrive. 

Growing up, Hux liked when humans would visit his village. As a child, he would tag along on his mother’s estate tour so that he could learn all the different scents and smells humans would give off; the pheromones of a couple in love smelled other than a family of four. Men smelled different than women and, like in wolves, infants and children smelled different altogether. Hux often wondered if any of the humans walking along Lupo street and turning into the St. Remus Public House knew they were the minority. That every villager walking by was not human, but rather a werewolf just making his or her way through the day. 

Hux didn’t make it a point to think about his past and especially not his mother. Passing when Hux was thirteen and leaving him in the hands of his father, Hux tried to behave how his mother would have wanted despite what his father wanted. Hux became the youngest Alpha in modern peace times with her passing, but his father still controlled a fair amount of the pack’s loyalty. 

When he turned eighteen, Hux was finally able to take control over the entire pack in a controlled fight. He and his Beta Gwen trained for months for battle, but when Brendol saw his son in his full Alpha form, he turned tail and ran, never to be seen or heard from again. 

It was rare to pass the Alpha position to a male heir, but Orla loved her son and knew that if she thought him to protect the pack rather than rule it, Hux would be a prominent Alpha. And he had been until Hux lost everything. 

As Leia’s village came into view, the anxiety beginning to show itself in a mild tremble of hands had nothing to do with the full moon just ten days away, but instead what he was volunteering for himself. 

“Hux,”

Rose Tico was in danger. 

Hux tried to remind himself of the danger while walking to met Poe taking his hand in greeting. 

“You ready for this?”

Hux didn’t answer; instead, he began walking deeper into the tree cover with Poe at his side. Distantly Poe was making idle conversation, but Hux wasn’t hearing any of it. So much was on his mind, and the sound of the other man’s voice was grating on his nerves. 

Why was he doing this? So, what if Rose had thought she was being followed. Even she had laughed it off to nerves. It hadn’t even been a topic she brought up but instead as an afterthought. So, what was it about this woman that brought him to do the unimaginable? These were the same questions he had asked himself earlier in the shower without answers, and now, as he walked further into the dense forest, small houses coming into view, Hux still had no answers. 

Hux’s focus was brought back as he began to notice the different scents coming off the wolves living on the path. The houses were basic construction, nothing like what he knew was part of the central pack’s village. No, these were like those built after natural disasters. Hux inhaled deeply, hoping maybe the wolf who had been in Paige Tico’s apartment would be one of the onlookers.

“They’re from a nearby pack,” Poe answered the unasked question. “Their Alpha died a few years ago, and there wasn’t anyone ready to take over. Leia brought them here until an Alpha is ready to stand up.”

Hux looked around, men lowering their head in deference to the Alpha walking past was a stark contrast to the mothers shielding their children, protecting them from the danger he represented.

“Well, Leia was always good at taking in strays,” Hux said, a small smirk on his face referencing Poe’s refugee status among the pack. Hux didn’t know much about Poe’s linage, but the high desert scent surrounding him was a dead giveaway he was not local. Wolves’ geographical scent never disappear, like the cold sea air scent that clung to Hux would always place him as being from the Snowdonia pack. Still, there would be subtle changes to his pheromones by now from being away from Wales for so long. 

Pushing at Hux playfully, Poe laughed as they walked through the outskirts of the pack’s main village. Poe hadn’t been a member of Leia’s pack when he and Kaydel visited years ago, but Hux understood his arrival was welcomed and beneficial to all involved. 

“Another Joke? I am impressed.”

They came to a clearing leading to the main compound at the top of a hill. A small path would bring Hux to the main house where the meeting would occur, but first, he had to shift. Entering another’s parklands when the two Alphas were not on the best of terms was difficult, so metering in True Form helped in reliving the tension. It showed the receiving leader honor and respect. 

Hux would do anything if it meant the meeting would be over quickly, even change into his True Form and not just his Were Form taking more concentration and power over one’s control. It also required the wolf to strip down to bare skin before the shift.

“The Grande Damme is in the big house, down the hill.” Poe offered his hand to Hux before he left. “I’ll have someone come up and get your clothing.” Hux shook Poe’s hand one more time before leaving him alone to undress and shift. Years have passed since Hux’s last True Form shift; ten years, to be precise, it was for the benefit of Leia Organa like this meeting. He had wanted to make a good impression when he visited with Kaydel to ask for permission to mate her. 

Kaydel had thought it old fashioned and ridiculous, but Hux had wanted to follow tradition. For a moment, he thought perhaps Leia wouldn’t give her blessing, but Han, Leia’s mate, and Kay and Ren’s father couldn’t take the fake suspense and put an end to Hux’s misery.

“Come on, Princess, let the man go. Can’t you see what you’re doing to him? Besides, I’m hungry.” Han winked at Hux, and he knew at least he had one ally in the hall. 

Would he still feel that way when he saw Hux this time?

Toeing off his shoes and unbuckling his belt, Hux had to shake that fear out of his mind. He had a shift to worry about, and the last thing he needed was to lose his concentration and end up bare ass naked on Leia’s floor.

“Poe!” Leia’s voice echoed in the entrance of her house as Poe walked into. “It is so good to see you; it has been far too long since you have been here for one of my Full Moon dinners.” The older lady embraced him, and, as it always did since before joining the pack, Poe felt welcomed and at home.

“We have a small change in plans for tonight,” Leia said, walking Poe to the large living room. Her house was the largest Poe had ever seen, but the way she and the family filled it with warmth, Poe never felt it was too large or unwelcoming. “Is Armitage on his way?”

“Yes, he should be here soon,” Poe said, looking at his watch.

Leia sat down on the large overstuffed chair in the center of the room, the closest thing to a throne she would allow.

“I do not know why he insists on shifting fully.” She said, taking a sip of wine Han handed to her as she entered the room. “I don’t exactly feel threatened by Armitage Hux, no office to him he’s a very nice young wolf, but honestly, he isn’t a threat to me.”

“Let him do what he wants,” A low male voice came from the kitchen. “It’s his choice if he wants to walk around in this humidity in a fur coat.”

Poe stood up and walked over to his friend. Ren Solo was the nearest thing to a brother Poe had. His being here must have been the change in plans Leia had mentioned. Before joining the pack, the two had been closer than packmates. When Poe’s world turned upside down five years ago, it was Ben who said Leia would always have room for him in her family. 

“Ren Solo, you son of a bitch, what are you doing here?” they embraced for a moment, placing their foreheads together, a sign of lupine affection.

“Some things have come up that I needed to talk with Mom about it.” Poe didn’t miss the side look he gave his mother but didn’t have time to question when a knock at the door sounded, reminding everyone why they were there.

Poe wasn’t sure what he expected when it came to Hux in his True Form, but it was not anywhere close to what he saw.

Moments after the front door opened, a large white and ginger red wolf entered, and by the Gods, he was the most magnificent wolf Poe had ever seen. Standing on powerful legs with bright green eyes that seemed to glow in the electric lights of the room, Hux was every bit the Alpha he was born to be. 

“Armitage Hux, former Alpha of Pack Snowdonia, I welcome you to my home.” Leia didn’t use her formal voice often, and even now, it didn’t sound right. Leia was a casual leader, the kind who kept asking if he had found a nice girl to settle down with yet. 

Poe saw when Hux noticed Ren in the room, causing his shift to falter for a moment. He couldn’t blame him; from what Poe understood, they did not end on the best of terms, and even Ren’s mating to his blooded cousin Rey, Hux did not want anything to do with the other wolf.

Leia may not have felt threatened by Hux, but the men still felt wary about him walking towards their leader, Han letting out a low growl as she reached out to pet the ginger wolf’s snout. If Leia had been in her True Form, the two would have nuzzled to show no ill will from either wolf.

Poe watched in awe as Hux allowed the other Alpha to pet his face, almost reveling in touch. The only other time he had seen Hux act like this was with Rosie, the sole reason they were there. 

_That’s interesting._

“Do we have Armitage’s clothing?” Leia asked as she smiled down at the wolf. “I’m sure he’d like to change and join us for dinner.”

And just like that, the ritual was over. The parties had shown respect to one another, and each had proven they were not hiding a secret army. True Form meetings were few and far between amongst pack leaders, but they still held a purpose. Poe knew Hux continued to feel guilty over Kay’s death, but he also knew Han and Leia did not. 

Poe walked outside to join Hux, now dressed and smoking, but not empty-handed. With beers in one hand and a small ashtray in the other, Poe sat next to the wolf as he leaned against the back deck’s railing. The scents rolling off the other wolf was that of fear, anger, desperation, and most of all, sadness.

“I didn’t know Ren was here.” Poe started handing him a bottle. “I was just as shocked as you were.”

“You didn’t get his sister killed.”

“You need to let that go, man. It’s not good for you.” Poe took a sip from his beer and turned to lean his back in the railing.

“Fuck you, Poe.”

“No, Hux, here me out. What happened to Kay was terrible, but you and I both know terrible things happen in this world. And they aren’t holding it against you.”

“God damnit, Poe, I don’t need this right now.”

“Think about it; maybe it’s time to move on. Find yourself a nice wolf and settle down.”

Hux pushed himself off the railing, turning around to move back inside.

“It’s a shame Rosie isn’t a wolf. She’d make a great mate.” The growl Hux made as the door closed made Poe laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Ren asked, joining his friend on the deck.

“Hux.”

“He’s an asshole but a good man. Rey misses him like crazy.”

Poe turned to look at the other wolf, remembering why he was there in the first place. 

“What’s going on, Ren. 

Last I heard Rey was about to pop and I can’t imagine you would have flown all this way with her about due if it wasn’t necessary.”

“I don’t know anything yet, but I started looking into Kay’s death and, well, something isn’t adding up. 

“What’s not adding up?” Hux’s voice startled Poe, making him drop his beer, sending it crashing to the ground. When had he come back outside, Poe wondered.

“Fuck, Hux!”

“What’s not adding up, Ren?”

Ren stood up straighter, leveling Hux’s stare.

“I’m not sure Kaydel is actually dead.”


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things can change on a dime.

Rose sat at her desk in her office and looked at the paperwork in front of her. Desk and office being kind words for what they actually were; her office being her apartment and her desk meaning her coffee table. The small Yaletown apartment doubling as her workspace for the time being until she had the funds to rent a space with a design space and office. The book deal and her upcoming events already on the books would go far in Rose reaching her goal. So, until then, she sat on her floor in front of her coffee table, a glass of wine in hand and new episodes of Love Island as she looked over budgets and color pallets.

Rose was behind on so many things she usually would have had done and filed away days if not weeks ago. But with Paige's disappearance and the trashing of her sister's apartment continued to cause Rose many sleepless nights. 

Then there was the hiring of Hux with his brooding, handsome face and sullen nature; Rose never knew if she was annoying the man or helping. She couldn't get more than a few words out of him at a time. And forget texting; it was like texting a technologically inept old man!

Thank heavens for Detective Dameron. Poe had been not only reachable but had become a sort of link between her and Hux in a way she treasured. It was like Poe spoke the grunting language Hux used more often than English. The last conversation on their group text had been, for the most part, her and Poe talking while Hux interjected one or two words at a time. As much as Rose liked talking with Poe, she wanted to speak with Hux, and she was woman enough to admit it wasn't always about the case. 

Rose took a sip of her wine, checking her phone on the off chance he had called, and, when there were no new messages, tossed it back down, letting out a frustrated sigh. It didn't make sense that she would be attracted to this man. He was angry, brooding, and sharp with her. But, oh, the way he smelled. The few times she had gotten close enough to him, the scent that clung to him was dark and heady. The cigarettes he smoked only enhanced his cologne's sweet pine scent, or maybe it was his soap? Rose didn't know, and honestly, she didn't care. Wherever the fragrance came from, she wanted to bathe in it. 

She needed to focus; she had too many things to get done in the next few days and very little time or energy, for that matter, in which to do it. In less than a week, she had one of the largest events to finish planning; vendors to pay, final meetings with her client, etcetera. But FUCK! How was she plan a birthday party for Vice-Admiral Holdo when her sister was missing?

Maybe she should call Hux. 

He had told her if anything new developed, he would call, but it would help to hear his voice. And by "hear his voice," Rose totally meant to hear him tell her nothing new had happened. It had nothing to do with wanting to hear that low deep accent of his. It had nothing to do with how he pronounced some words with a strange, not wholly BBC historical drama lilt.

No. This call would be entirely professional.

"Damn," Rose said out loud when the call went to voicemail. Wait, hadn't Poe said the two of them would be out of contact today, and he would call tomorrow? "Fuck." Rose finished off the glass and stood to pour herself another but stopping before opening the fridge to retrieve the bottle of sav blanc when something caught her eye. 

Putting down the glass, she walked over to the small wooden box that rested high on the shelf in the living room. When their parents died, the sisters decided to have them cremated together, splitting the ashes between them. Then putting up a small memorial to them in the park, her parents went for walks each night. Even in the rain, Rose remembered watching her mother and father put their wellies and jackets on to walk around the park, t be alone with each other. The Tico's had a love that transcended time and space, Rose's father passing just moments after his wife. Paige and Rose had always known one would not last long after the other was gone. And it had been nice to mourn them together, knowing they would be together in spirit for all eternity. 

"'Nó với mẹ.' It's with mom." Rose moved closer to the box, taking it down from his shelf for the first time since Rose had put it there five years before. Was she ready to do this, or was she being dumb and thinking Paige had left her clues in hopes of being found?

"What's with Mom, Pepe?" Rose opened the box with a deep breath; inside were her parents' ashes and her father's wedding ring. Nothing that would help her find her sister, though. 

"Well, that was anti-climactic!" Rose said with a small laugh to herself. Putting the box back on its shelf, she moved back to the fridge and her yet to be poured glass of wine. She needed to get out. She needed to go for a walk, maybe get sushi, and lose herself in eel rolls and mochi balls. Or she could perhaps call Jannah to ask if she wanted to meet for a workout. Both held merit but carb on carb sounded better. 

Changing out of her lounge pants and a tank top, Rose left her apartment searching for unagi and the sweet relief of being anywhere but her apartment.

But that bliss lasted only an hour. Any calmness Rose was feeling was gone in a flash as she walked into the carnage that was her apartment. The front door left open, not that it would have closed since the handle and deadbolt had been ripped off. It looked as if the same tool had been used on her door as with Paige's; the four tyned clawing tool had scratched at her door a few times before the door gave way.

Her home had been violated. Going further into the room, Rose saw the paperwork which she had left on the coffee table had been on the floor, the table itself upturned and splintered apart. The lamps around her living room were broken, shattered; the shades were torn into strips of fabric. But it was the mess in the corner of the room that caught her attention. Walking over, she saw the small wooden box, the same one she had been holding just an hour ago had been broken; its contents dumped unceremoniously to the carpet, her father's ring nowhere in sight. 

In the recesses of her mind, Rose thought back to her first self-defense class she took years before getting into Muay Thai. When walking into a situation in which you do not know how to respond, the instructor has said the best thing to do is leave, call the police, run away. He went on to say that running away is not a sign of weakness but a show of strength. 

Call the cops. Rose needed to call the cops. Poe. She could call Poe. But would he answer? He had said he would be with Hux and both unreachable. She had to try, at least. Reaching into her bag, Rose dialed Poe's number but had no answer. 

She called again, this time leaving a message. 

"Poe, please, need help. My apartment was broken into and," her phone began to vibrate with a call before she could finish the message.

"Miss. Tico, I would like," Hux began to speak before she could respond.

"Hux! I need help!"

Dinner with the Organa-Solos was as close to torture as Hux had ever experienced. And not solely to their history. It wasn't even the domesticity of being seated around a large table. Too close to what Hux wanted more than anything: a family. 

No, Hux was in hell simply because he wanted nothing more than to pull Ren aside and ask him everything about Kaydel. 

"I'm _not sure Kaydel is actually dead."_

What the fuck did that even supposed mean? And how was he supposed to sit down and eat with that statement hanging over his head? 

It took two hours for them to finish their meal and for Leia to agree to put two wolves as hidden protection on Rose. Two hours Hux will never get back. Hux could not understand how this family could forgive him after letting their child be killed. But then again, it's now entirely possible she isn't truly dead, leading to so many unanswered questions. 

The drive back to town was slow, but it was nice to be alone in the quiet confines of his car. Hux had agreed to have Poe and Ren join him at his place so they could discuss everything Ren had of Kaydel's non-death. Maybe he should stop and pick up some more whiskey. 

It felt as if Ren's revelations tonight was not going to be managed sober. 

But first, Hux wanted to let Rose know he had hired some security and would be meeting with the man and woman tomorrow morning. 

Taking out his phone just as he left the forest line, he scrolled until he found Rose's number, hitting dial and letting his handsfree device take over. 

"Miss Tico, I would like," He began but was cut off immediately. 

"Hux! I need help!" 

His entire mind ground to a halt, pulling over, so he didn't run himself off the road. Was he too late? Did the protection he just obtained for her not come soon enough? 

"Rose? Are you alright? Are you injured?" 

"My house… it's been broken into." She whispered, putting Hux on even more on edge. 

"Rose, listen to me," he began as he picked up his phone to send out a text. "are you listening, sweetheart?" 

"Yes," The sound cracked and unsure. 

"I want you to go to my place. There will be a man named Mitaka waiting for you. He will bring you upstairs and sit with you until I get there. I'm an hour away. Can you do that for me, sweetheart?" 

Hux wasn't ready to process why he began to call her the pet name, but it got the point across. He blasted out a text to the only person he could consider a friend, someone he occasionally used to plant listening devices in client's houses or places of business. 

Mitaka was shady but trustworthy. 

Once Hux got an affirmative response from his man, he noticed Poe's car pass before he could turn back onto the road. The other wolf wasn't always quick on the uptake, but he knew when something was wrong. 

"Hey, Hux," "I got a strange half message from Rosie," Poe began once Hux answered the call he knew was coming. 

"She's been broken into. Fuck, Poe, why didn't your people look into this before now?" Poe was silent. "sorry, ok, she's headed to my place; I have a guy that will sit with her. I want to head there now; will you go to her place with Ren?" 

With plans made to split up, Hux drove faster than was legal, but Rose was in trouble, scared and alone save for Mitaka, but Hux would feel better if he got to her more quickly than going the speed limit. 

The echo of screeching tires sounded in the parking garage as Hux pulled into his space. Barely remembering to grab the keys, he ran with his preternatural speed to the stairs. The elevator would take too long, and he was too hyped to stand still for five minutes on the ride. The only thing he needed was to see Rose and make sure with his own two eyes and own two hands; she was safe. 

Hux burst into the door, making Rose jump, but it was worth it. Sitting on his couch was Rose. The same one she and Poe had sat one day before eating sandwiches. She was in one piece and without any marks on her save for a bruise on her thigh she had informed him was from her workout class, and it wasn't a big deal. Hux still didn't like to see her beautiful skim marred, but at least it wasn't new. 

Hux nodded his head at Mitaka as he left, the door shutting quietly behind him as he went to kneel in front of her. 

"Rose," looked her up and down, scenting nothing but fear and anxiety. "are you alright?" 

"No, I'm not alright, Hux! My house was broken into. My things ripped apart. My parent's ashes," she sicked in a shaky breath as if she was keeping herself from crying, looking down at her hands as she ripped a tissue to pieces in her lap.

"What about your parent's ashes, sweetheart?" there it was again, that pet name he kept calling her. Not even Kaydel had been given a pet name, Hux never liked the idea of calling someone you cared about anything other than their name. It was the highest respect in his mind to let that person know you cared enough to say their name with reverence. But Rose, from the moment Hux met this woman; his life has been turned upside down. So why not call her a Sweetheart? 

"They were dumped out onto the carpet. My father's ring was missing." She looked up at him then, eyes wide and pleading. "why would they take my father's wedding ring, Hux? Why?" 

Hux's phone rang as he brushed tears from her cheeks. "is it alright if I take this?" 

She nodded, and he stood, walking out to the balcony. This entire situation was a clusterfuck. What was he going to do now? 

"Poe?" he answered as he lit a cigarette. 

"Fuck, man, it's bad. That wolf scent is so strong it's making my eyes burn. Ren's looking around, but he didn't recognize the scent either. How's Rosie?" 

Hux knew he had no right to be jealous of the other wolf, but hearing Poe call Rose Rosie clawed at him. 

"She's shaken. Hey, she said they dumped out her parent's ashes on the carpet and took her father's wedding ring. Can you take a look at that? I feel like maybe that was deliberate. Also, I know this is me just being paranoid. Can you check for A/V in the place? I don't like any of this, but I think this may have been intimidation." 

"Ren agrees," Poe answered. "It's complete destruction here, nothing like at the sisters. Plates and glasses are broken, the furniture is in pieces. It's obvious Rosie doesn't have what they are looking for, which makes me think this was a threat." 

"But why?" Hux asked, turning around to watch Rose bring her knees to her chest. "I'm going to keep her ere for a while. Can you bring over whatever you think she might need; a laptop, skincare, whatever women use. Ask Ren; he's an old married man, he knows what women need." 

Hux hung up the phone and tamped out the smoke before walking back inside. 

"I sent Poe to your place to look around. He's going to come back with a few things, so if there's anything in particular you need, medication, maybe? Let me know, and I'll text it to him. 

Rose looked so small on his couch, and it tore at his chest. This woman was fearless; she had stood up to him several times, yelled at countless police officers in an attempt to help find her sister. Seeing her curled up, in pain, scared ate away at him. Hux wanted to find the people responsible and kill them. He needed to rip their heads off of their bodies and offer them to Rose as gifts. 

He wanted to shield her from the horrors of this world, protect her for the rest of his life. But most of all, he ached to hold her. Would she even let him? After days of cold and uncaring actions towards her, would he allow him to comfort her in this time of anxiety? 

He poured them each a glass of whiskey, putting one on the side table, then sat down next to her. Far enough not to crowd, but close enough, he could feel her warmth. 

"Now what?" Even her voice was small. 

"Now, we wait." Taking a sip from his glass, Hux looked straight ahead. "Poe and a friend of mine are at your place to see if there is anything that might help us find who did this." 

"You have friends?" 

Hux gave her a small, sad smile. 

"Not as much anymore." 

"I'm your friend, Hux."

She moved closer to him, curling up into his side, allowing him to wrap one arm around her, protecting her from the world the best he could. 

"And I'm yours, sweetheart." 


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren has a story to tell

AM Chapter 8

  
POE: We’re almost finished here. Ren is packing up her things.

HUX: Ok.

POE: Ren found her laptop. It was untouched, sitting on her coffee table like nothing happened.

HUX: Strange.

POE: Yeah, we thought so, too.

POE: Heading over now. How’s Rosie?

HUX: Quiet.

POE: We’re heading over now. 

HUX: Ok.

HUX: Thank you, Poe.

Hux tossed his phone down and looked at the dark head resting on his chest. The soft, measured breathing coming from Rose along with her relaxed body against his let Hux know she had fallen asleep. Pride expanded Hux’s chest, knowing Rose felt so at ease and safe in a moment of high stress and uncertainty with him. 

Like other pack animals, Wolves found safety in numbers, but the closeness was more than mere survival; it was a comfort they shared.   
Humans weren’t so different; their base instincts, the fight or flight response as they liked to call it, was derived from their prehistoric past when Hux’s ancestors and humans lived together.   
Each learning from the other how to survive in the harsh terrain. 

Did Rose feel what being curled against his body did to the wolf simmering at Hux’s surface?   
Would she feel the same sense of safety in his arms if she knew the man she was sleeping on was an apex predator? Not that Hux was going to share his little secret. No, after this case, he would never see this woman again. Hux had no business being anywhere near this woman, let alone thinking he could keep her. As soon as he found her sister, he would end their partnership and go back to what he was good at being a miserable asshole.

Soft snores began filing his ears while the scent of the two male wolves entered the hallways that lead to his apartment. As carefully as he could, Hux stood, lifting the light, warm weight of the sleeping Rose into his arms. Walking the short distance from the living room to the bedroom, He placed Rose down on the bed as gingerly as possible, placing the blanket over her to protect her from the frigid air conditioner blowing on her during the night.

Poe and Ren walked in just as Hux walked out of the room, closing the door behind and motioning to the balcony. 

“You got here quicker than expected.” Poe said as he closed the sliding glass door behind himself then jumped onto the balcony wall, perched there like he wasn’t eighteen stories above the city.

“Yes, I was lucky. I didn’t get tracked by any police.”

“You’re welcome,” Poe smiled at Hux, who gave the other wolf a quizzical look. “I called the stations as we drove in. Told them you were a cop undercover and to ignore if you passed them.”

Hux didn’t know how to feel about that. He looked down at the cigarette and then back at the wolf sitting on his balcony ledge, taking a deep pull, nodding. 

“Thank you, Poe. I appreciate you putting your neck out like that.”

“It was no trouble.”

But it was to Hux. If Poe were part of Hux’s pack, he wouldn’t think it was such a big deal; wolves helped one another. But Hux was alone. A choice he had made eight years ago, and he didn’t have anyone to fall back on. Or, at least he didn’t before now.

“She asleep?” Poe asked.

“Yes.” Hux tamped out his cigarette, choosing not to notice the look shared between the two wolves.

“Ok, Ren, you’re up.”

Sitting down on the lone chair outside, Hux watched as Ren, his former best friend, and almost brother licked his lips nervously while pacing back and forth. Ren was not one would call eloquent; he was a brutal fighter and brilliant mathematician, but he was always a wolf of few words. Hux had been pleased when his cousin Rey had fallen for the black wolf knowing their children would be strong and capable. But it was still like pulling teeth to get him to string more than three sentences together at a time.

“Last year, almost to the day, as a matter of fact, I was telling my oldest, Poppy, about her Aunt Kaydel. She looks just like her, Hux, it’s uncanny.” Ren started, pride for his child shining on his face.

“Anyway, Poppy wanted to see a picture of her. I hadn’t been able to keep them up after, well,” Ren trailed off.

“Her death.” Hux finished for him. He had time to come to terms with it, even if it ate at him every day.

“Yes, her death. It hurt too much. But when Poppy shifted for the first time, Hux, it was like watching Kay shift. The coloring was the same; her eyes glowed the same gold. Fuck, it was like having her back.”

Hux watched as the memory took over. Ren’s face softened, and the love he felt for his daughter radiated off of him. Wolves never felt anything by half; they were like a conduit for emotions feeling with all they had. But unfortunately, there was no gray area with wolves: when one loves so strongly, the opposite of that emotion was equal, sometimes even stronger. Ben had fought those darker demons before meeting Rey. His cousin pulled him back from the brink by loving all of him, even the darkness.

“So, I showed Poppy the only picture I have left; the one the four of us took by the lake, you, Kay, me, and Rey.”

Hux knew the picture he was referring to. It had been the morning he asked Kay to be his forever. 

“Where is this going, Ren?” Hux was tired of hearing about this trip down memory lane. He wanted to know why Ren thought Kay was still alive. Not remember how he let her down.

“I’m getting there, Hux.” Ren took a deep breath and continued. “I showed Poppy the picture. A picture that hasn’t left the box I put it in eight years ago. And my five-year-old daughter said she had seen her; multiple times. That she saw her just the other day walking around the village, she said she smiled at her and knew her name.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“That’s what I said.   
So, I asked her what she meant.   
Told her that she couldn’t possibly have seen her.”

“Maybe Rey had shown her the picture?” Hux asked, perplexed.

“I asked her; Rey didn’t even know I kept the picture. The thing is,” Ren continued. “Poppy said she didn’t look exactly like the picture. That the woman she saw had a large scar running down her face.”

Poe jumped down from his perch and moved closer to Hux.

“A scar?” Hux asked.  
“Like the one on the woman Rosie saw on the bus?” Poe continued Hux’s train of thought.

“What are you two talking about?” It was Ren’s turn to be confused.

“A few days ago, Rose came over to talk with Poe and me. And as she was leaving, she saw Kay’s photo on my bookshelf and said she saw a woman who looked exactly like this on the bus.   
But that she had a large scar running down her face and,”

“Down her neck?” Ren continued.

Poe and Hux both nodded.

“But wouldn’t both of you know her scent?” Asked Poe, just as confused as the rest.

“That’s why I’m having such a hard time believing it’s really her,” Answered Ren.

“Have you ever felt trapped by your own scent?” Hux said to no one, a long-lost memory taking over.

“What’s that?” Ren asked, reaching for one of Hux’s cigarettes.

“Something Kay had asked me once.” He tossed the lighter to the other wolf, catching it effortlessly. “We were walking in town once, and we pass the Cardinals. They had just had Marni, and her scent was still in the sweet, infant stage.” Hux was grasping at the memory, trying to put everything together and still missing pieces. “Anyway, I mentioned the sweet scent and wondered if she would take after Cardinal’s Lake District scent or if Gabby’s local scent would prevail. Kay asked if I ever felt trapped by my own scent. That she wished she had a scent that was truly her own, not one that linked her to any one place or pack. I told her no that my scent is who I am. We both just laughed it off and continued walking.”

It was a memory he had forgotten because, at the time, it didn’t mean anything. 

“That acrid, metallic scent we keep picking up. Hux, you don’t think,” Poe’s question was ridiculous. Then again, they were in uncharted territory altogether. One where Kaydel might be alive, so maybe ridiculous questions were needed just then.

“She’s ten now.” Ren broke the silence as he finished the cigarette, putting it out in the makeshift ashtray.

“What?” Ren’s voice broke Hux out of his thoughts.

“Marni. She’s ten now. She took after Gabby.”

Until now, Hux never felt he made the wrong choice in leaving England. He had always thought once a path is chosen, that’s it, there’s no going back. But Hux had missed so much during his self-imposed exile. The marriage of his cousin and the birth of her family. The other families that had grown, children he had ever met all lived in his hometown. Wolves he had been charged to lead, all left for his selfish reason: he felt he had failed everyone that night.

But Hux didn’t have time to focus on the past. The woman in his bed, one who needed his help at the moment, was awake, and she would have questions. 

If only he had answers to give.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose is done waiting for answers.

There was a spot on the ceiling. Was it a stain, or more like discoloration from a shadow or a thinner layer of paint, maybe? Shadow or stain, it didn’t matter to Rose; the spot on the ceiling above her was the only thing tethering her to reality. 

An hour or so passed since Hux carried her into his bedroom, placing her onto his bed and covering her with a light sheet; the touch he gave her forehead was almost imperceivable to Rose before he left her alone, but the path his thumb had taken still warmed her skin. 

After dozing off on the couch, Rose felt movement and had been relocated as if she weighed nothing. 

Hux lifted her into his arms, and there was no way around the feeling of safety she had felt at that moment. Rose came fully awake when she heard the other voices enter the apartment; Poe and Hux had been joined by a low dark voice but could not make out exactly what was being said; their voices were soft mumbles through the thin wall, leaving her alone with her spinning thoughts.

The same questions Rose had had from the very beginning were still swirling around in her brain. 

Questions like: where was Paige? What had she gotten herself mixed up in? Was she still alive? But now, more questions had entered the vortex of anxiety. Did the break-in have something to do with Paige’s disappearance? Why was Hux so secretive about things? And what was up with him calling her “sweetheart?”

The last question wasn’t so much a question having to do with Paige or the break-in to her apartment; it was more a question of did she like it? And as Rose lay there, in Hux’s bed, surrounded by his cool, woodsy scent, she had to admit to herself that yes, she did like it. It didn’t matter that this was dumb and reckless. That any relationship with this man will only end in pain and tears.

“ _ But why would she do this? Huh? This just doesn’t make sense, Ren.” Hux’s _ voice came through the wall clearer than before. Rose scrambled out of bed quietly and moved to the door, hoping to hear more.

“ _ Hux, none of this makes sense. When I got off that plane, I wasn’t exactly expecting to find out that my fucked up theory is most likely correct in but that she might have someone held hostage.” _ That was the man Rose didn’t know, but if they were talking about something having to do with her sister, Rose was damned if she would be put to bed like a child while they discussed it.

Rose opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, making it two steps before she ran face-first into a large, warm, hard chest. Stepping back, Rose couldn’t help but let out a nervous giggle when she saw what blocked her path.

“I am so sorry,” Rose said, stepping back to get a better look. 

The man in front of her was an actual giant. With thick black hair and an aquiline nose, broad cheekbones, and he towered over Rose. If a redwood tree and a refrigerator had a baby, it would be this man.

“Uhh, Rosie?” She heard Poe say in the distance. But it was too far away for her to pay attention.

“Rose,” Hux was a little closer but still, how was this man real? Could she touch him again, Rose wondered, lifting her hand to his hard chest again.

“Ok, Rose,” Hux’s arm came around her shoulders, pulling her away from the tactile experiment. Hux walked her to the couch and away from the Roman column standing in the living room.

“Rose Tico, allow me to introduce Ren Solo. Ren is married to my cousin back in Wales and was in town to fill me in on some news from back home.”

That cleared the fog from Rose’s mind, reminding her what she had heard through the wall.

“Miss. Rose, it’s nice to meet you.” The large man held out his hand for Rose to take, the massive paw engulfing hers in a moment.

“Nice to meet you, too, Ren.” He let her hand go and backed away quickly. Rose needed coffee because she could have sworn she heard a low growl when they shook hands. “How long are you in town?”

“Not long at all, actually, Miss. Rose. I leave tomorrow night.”

Poe came to sit next to Rose on the couch as Rose noticed how viably flustered Hux got every time Ren called her Miss as Hux and Ren moved closer to the apartment door.

“How you are holding up, kiddo?”

Rose was trying to listen in on what was being said at the door, but it wasn’t working.

“Fine, I guess.” Rose leaned into the couch and began picking at her fingernails. “Poe,”

“Yes?”

“Why does Ren call me Miss?”

It was strange to be called Miss her age, but Rose didn’t understand half the things happening around her. But the question put a visible fluster on Poe’s face that was there one moment and gone the next.

“Oh, umm, in our culture, it’s a sign of respect to new people.” He stood up quickly, eager to change the subject. “Hey, you want anything?”

Besides answers? Rose thought but didn’t say out loud. She shook her head and watched Poe walk to the kitchen as Hux and Ren came back into the room.

“It was nice meeting you, Miss Rose. I hope everything turns out ok in the end.” Rose smiled at his words, unsure what else to say.

Ren said his goodbyes to Hux and Poe, declaring he had to see his parents before leaving town. Ren and Poe’s interaction was completely different from him and Hux’s, but Rose couldn’t put her finger on why. Hux had said they were family, so why to coldness? Ren and Poe reached out and clasped hands bringing the other man into a hug, but it was the forehead touches that struck Rose as odd. No toxic masculinity there; Ren and Poe clearly had a strong bond, almost as if they were brothers. 

The farewell with Hux, on the other hand, had a strange formality to it. They clasped hands and brought their heads together, just like with Poe, but before releasing his hand, Ren brought the connection to the center of his chest and waited for Hux to nod. It was only after Hux tipped his chin at Ren that the other man released his hand and made his way to the door.

“Call your cousin, Hux. She misses you. We all do. Well, not me but others do.” Hux smiled at Ren’s words, and it was the first time Rose had seen Hux smile in earnest. It was stunning. 

The apartment was quiet for long moments after the door closed, all three of them standing, unsure what should happen next. Hux moved to the balcony, but instead of locking them out, like he tended to do, Hux left the sliding door open, an invitation if Rose ever saw one.

But before Rose could move in that direction, Poe called her name. Rose looked between the open balcony door and the man standing in the hallway holding a bag with a smile. 

“I hope we got some good things for you. We didn’t know what you needed, but if we missed something, let me know, and I’ll go back and get it.”

Rose took the bag from Poe and began looking through it as she went back to the couch. The bag held a large number of clothes and sundries, but what caught her eye was something she didn’t expect to see.

“My laptop!” she pulled out the small, shin sliver rectangle and opened it up. “It’s in one piece!” Rose opened the screen, and the sound of the terminal powering up was music to her ears.

“I don’t understand. Why would they have wrecked my house but left my laptop in one piece?”

“Hey, Dameron,” Hux joined them again, now smelling like clove cigarettes and warm night air. 

“Yes, Alpha, I mean, yeah, Hux?”

“Would you mind giving me and Rose a moment.”

Rose looked between the two men. It was clear that Poe wasn’t expecting to be kicked out but didn’t push back on it.

“Yeah, of course.” He gathered his things and headed toward the door. “I have an early morning tomorrow at the station.”

“Goodnight, Poe.”

“Good night Rosie. Call me if you need anything.”

There was that low rumble again. It was almost a growl, or like the sound a souped-up car makes. There wasn’t a lot of street race-type cars in Gastown, but maybe she was just uncool and unaware of the goings-on. That’s what that sound was, right?

Rose watched Hux pace back and forth in the living room like a caged animal. The anxiety and frustration radiating off of him so strong that Rose felt it in her own body. What had Ren told him earlier that had upset him badly enough to push him to this point of irritation? Whatever it was, it couldn’t have been good. Rose took in her surroundings and realized that they were, in fact, alone for the first time without any plans to be interrupted. This would be the perfect time to sit the man down and have him explain everything. Rose knew he had been hiding things from her, things about her sister, about the case; hell, she even suspected he was hiding things about where he was earlier tonight when she had told him about the break-in.

Rose was tired of being in the dark about everything. Her own anxiety and agitation feeding off of his like a succubus, and Rose just couldn’t take it anymore. Hux was still walking back and forth in the living room, and it was really pissing her off. Closing her laptop and standing from her spot on the couch, Rose knew she would be difficult to get her point across, not with a man who didn’t act as if full transparency was needed between them. So, rose did what any five-foot-two-inch woman would do in this situation: Rose stepped up onto the coffee table, reaching out to his shoulders and stopping him mid-pace, making him look her straight in the eyes.

“Ok, Hux. I think it’s time you told me everything. And I do mean everything.”

Hux let out a frustrated sigh about to rebuff her demand. 

“And we can start with who  _ She _ is.”

**Author's Note:**

> I love comments! I plan to do a lot with this story so please let me know what you think!!!


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